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Sight-Seeing 



in 



South A merica 



SIGHT-SEEING 

IN 

SOUTH AMERICA 



BY 

WILLIAM G. FRIZELL 

GEORGE H. GREENFIELD 

Authors of "Around the World on the Cleveland. 




Illustrations from Photographs taken hy 
Members of the Party 



F 



o 



/^ 



COPYRIGHT 1912 
William G. Frisell and George H. Greenfield 



tCU327414 



-)A .. 



SIGHT-SEEING in South America has not yet been 
systematized as it has been in Europe, Eg)-pt, India, 
and Japan. The only Baedeker pubHshed is for 
Argentina, and that is not printed in the EngHsh language. 
The first tourist office was opened in Buenos Aires but 
a few weeks before our arrival. Tourists are a novelty, 
and the people are so indifferent about their own objects 
of interest that the traveler has difficulty in discovering 
them. 

The purpose of this book is to make sight-seeing easier 
for the traveler and to give an idea to the one at home 
of how much and how well, in a cruise of less than three 
months from New York, one may see and enjoy of 
gigantic South America. 

South America is still largely a seaboard continent. 
The principal cities are either on the coast, or within 
easy reach of it. On a cruise one can visit from his 
ship readily and comfortably the important places of 
interest. 

By living on the same shi]), there is not a constant 
change of beds and meals in indiff'crent hotels, and there 
is no loss of time from waiting for steamshi]) connections. 
The Hamburg-American Line, by its winter cruise around 
South America, is making this great continent of oppor- 
tunities accessible for the first time to the traveler. 



Most of the illustrations are from photographs taken 
by members of our party, who very kindly placed at our 
disposal their large and valuable collections. To those 
who have furnished photographs, and to all who have 
kindly assisted in the preparation of this volume, the 
authors return thanks. 

William G. Fkizell, 

Dayton, Ohio. 
George IL Greenfield, 

Elko, Nevada. 
Augu.st 5, 1912. 



(Tontpntfl* 

Chapter 

I. Southward Konnd 9 

II. Trinidad '. 18 

III. I'ernambuco 32 

l\. Santos 46 

\\ Sao Paulo 52 

VI. Buenos Aires 66 

VII. Environs of Buenos Aires, La Plata, El 

Tigre, Pereyra Estancia 90 

\'III. The Pampas and Alendoza 99 

IX. Across the Andes 110 

X. Santiago 122 

XI. Valparaiso 145 

XII. Through the Straits of ]\Iagcllan 155 

XIII. Montevideo 170 

XI \. Rio de Janeiro 183 

X\ . Environs of Rio, Corcovado, Tijuca, Petrop- 

olis 210 

X\ 1. Hahia 225 

XVII. Para 240 

XMIT. Barbadoes 248 

XIX. I'anania 257 

Appkndix 
Valparaiso to Panama 284 

Xames of the Party 2^4 



CHAPTER I. 

Southward Bound 

SOUTH AMERICA is the latest Mecca for travelers. 
The charm of novelty, the fascination of magnificent 
cities, with a new world Latin civilization, and the 
lure of boundless business opportunities are turning the 
tide of travel southward. 

Drawn by these attractions and the desire to exchange 
a cold Northern winter for a mild South American sum- 
mer, several hundred Americans sailed from New York 
on January 20, 1912, on the Bluecher, of the Hamburg- 
American Line for a twenty-thousand-mile cruise around 
South America. 

We left New York covered with ice and snow and 
cut our way down the bay, through floating cakes of ice. 
The Statue of Liberty looked frozen as we passed her. 
At Sandy Hook we were surprised to find the Atlantic 
smooth and pleasant. The second day out, we sat on 
deck without wraps, and within three days winter clothes 
had been exchanged for summer ones. 

After crossing the Gulf Stream, the steady trade 
winds from the southeast kept the air crisp and the sea 
sparkling with dancing white caps. These disturbed 
no one, except one small boy, who liad difiiculty in find- 
ing his sea legs. He wrote in his diary. "Went down to 
dinner, came up." He saw nothing funn\- in the indefi- 
niteness as to what came ui). 



10 Sight-Seeing in South America 

The quiet seas enabled us quickly to become acquainted 
with our ship. The Bluecher is a 12,500 ton vessel. 
She is 525 feet long, 39 feet deep, and 62 feet wide at 
the beam. Her width and her bilge keels, which are 
flanges along the sides of the hull, make her very steady 
and pleasant for cruising purposes. 




By 3Ii.ss[Ali(t Crome 

The Bluecher 

Ever_y ship has a certain subtle personality. The dis- 
tinctive characteristic of the Bluecher was, that she was 
home-like. She has large state-rooms and wide, long 
decks, so that there was no over-crowding. The dining 
rooms, in white and gold, with small round tables, were 
as brilliant and beautiful as those of any fashionable 
hotel. The cuisine was so excellent and varied that it 
kept the gymnasium, well equipped with Swedish appara- 
tus, popular. Everybody enjoyed this great floating 
summer hotel. 



Sonthicard Bound 11 

Tlie Bluecher was well officered and manned. Captain 
^^'illiam Witt was extremely po])ular. He had the con- 
fidence and sfood will of all. He was modest, affable, 




Capt.iiii William Wilt 

and efficient. For nineteen years he has commanded 
Hamburg-.Vmcrican ships, among which was the Deutsch- 
land, now the luxurious cruising ship. The \'ict(n"ia I.uise. 
l""or meritorious services, Captain Witt received a sjx'cial 



12 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



gold medal from his company, and decorations from the 
emperors of Germany and Russia. All the other officers 
and crew, down to Hans, the brawny-muscled deck hand, 
were well liked. They were so competent that every- 
thing moved with clock-like precision. 




By C. H. Se. 



Taking Observations of the Sun at Noon 



■ Sailing southward, we saw a few spouting whales, 
many racing and leaping porpoises and dolphins, and now 
and then a distant sail. Our ship often frightened 
schools of flying fish. I timed one that remained in the 



Southward Bound 13 

air twenty-two seconds sailing above the crest of wave 
after wave. These fish are about ten inches long and 
have their tins extended into gauzy wings of about the 
same length. They are caught in abundance in the West 
Indies, and when fried have an excellent flavor, the meat 
being very solid. 

We cut across Sargasso Sea, which is in the eddy 
formed by the Gulf Stream, going northeastward, and 
the equatorial current, moving southwestward. In this 
vortex, amid the tangled seaweed, all the derelicts and 
wreckage of the North Atlantic are supposed to go down 
to Davy Jones" locker. 

Although Columbus discovered the sea on his first 
voyage to America, w^hen his sailors were frightened at 
the sight of so much seaweed, thinking that they must 
be near shoals or rocks, yet it remains in some ways a 
puzzle to scientists. Only in 1910 the Danish Govern- 
ment sent a ship to explore the sea. It reported that the 
sailors' stories, which had fascinated me when a boy, of 
ships being entangled in the mesh of seaweed and never 
escaping, were only myths, but the problem of the origin 
of the seaweed was left in dispute. Some claim that the 
seaweed grows in the sea, and that while it ]~ "oduces 
no seed, that eacli branch l)r()ken oA" bv wind or wave 
becomes another plant. The majority of scientists, how- 
ever, now hold that this seaweed was attached once to 
the shores of the AA'est India Islands, and, being detached 
by storms, has been swept away by the ocean currents. 
After about six months it decays and disappears. 

To avoid rough seas, we sailed close to the windward 
of the Lesser Antilles and often could see the people 



14 



Sights ceing in South America 



on shore. To name the islands would be like giving a 
catalogue of this West India group. 

The first that came into sight bore the descriptive name 
of Sombrero, which was soon followed by Dog Island 
and mountainous Saba. During the night, St. Kitts, 




^y il. i'.i.J^'-sh 



(I 'INjiinianient 



Guadeloupe, and Dominica were passed and in the morn- 
ing we were opposite to romantic, tragic, mountainous 
Martinique. 

Josephine, Napoleon's first wife, was born and edu- 
cated here. Her first husband, Alexandre Beauharnais, 



SoutJv:card Bound 15 

was the son of a governor of the island. Here, in his 
youth, came Bernardin de St. Pierre, the author of "Paul 
and Virginia" and here he is supposed to have gained 
inspiration for the' writing of his well-known romance. 

jMartinique is known best now on account of the 
eruption of Mount P'elee, on May 8, 1902. Mount Pelee 
stands near to the northwest coast and slopes up 4,436 
feet from the sea. In the early morning, as we saw it, 
with a wreath of mists around its summit, it looked quiet 
and innocent enough. There was no smoke to suggest 
a volcano. In historic times, only in 18.V and 1902, has 
Pelee been in eruption. Down its green sides, from the 
crater to the sea, there are a number of deep, wide, brown 
furrows that were dug out at the last eruption by the 
torrents of hot mud and lava. They are bare of verdure 
and amid the luxuriant vegetation, with sharpness and 
hardness, like scars, they remain as nature's warning 
signals. At the top of these barren gullies large crosses 
have been erected by the devout Catholic inhabitants to 
ward off future devastation. 

Several miles southward on the shore, under the pro- 
tection of great green bluff's, nestled the thriving, solidl}'- 
built city of St. Pierre. Dm-ing the latter part of A])ril 
and the first of May, 1902, Mount Pelee became active, 
so that thousands from the surroimding country fled into 
the city. On the m(;rning of May the eighth, at a few 
minutes after eight, (lie \-()lcan() rxpldded in two dircc- 
ti(jns. One column of black \'ai>or, ])icrced willi light- 
ning flashes, went straight u]) in the air and (lai"k-cncd the 
sk\-, while another shot out from the side of the moun- 
tain and poiu'cd down a blast of hot air and hot dust 



Soiithzi'ard Bound 17 

over St. Pierre. It came with a velocity of more than 
a hundred miles an hour, blew down trees and buildings, 
set fire to houses and ships, and in less than three min- 
utes ended 30,000 lives. An avalanche of mud then buried 
the city. 

Of all the inhabitants of St. Pierre, but two were found 
alive. One was a woman who was discovered in a cel- 
lar and died the same day. Another was a negro pris- 
oner named Cisparis, who was in the dungeon of the jail. 
He was not found for three days and was uninjured. 
Of the many sailors and officers on the twenty boats in 
the harbor, only forty or fifty, all more or less burned 
and injured, survived. 

Now no one lives at St. Pierre, except a few negroes, 
who have put up some frame buildings near the old dock, 
where they sell drinks to tourists. Luxuriant vegetation 
has covered the ruins with a kindly shroud of green, and 
soon St. Pierre ^vill be forgotten among the buried cities 
of the world. 

We next passed Santa Lucia, St. Vincent, and Grenada, 
and on the sixth morning out from New York we arrived 
at the Island of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela. 
As we were coming into the harbor of Port of Spain, we 
passerl a large excursion boat carrying the members of a 
West Indian Agricultural Conference boimd for a new 
island, that in a volcanic eruption arose from the sea 
off the southern coast of Trinidad on November 3, 1911. 
This island, then less than three months old, was a lusty 
infant and growing steadily. It already had on it a 
little lake, some vegetation, and was gathering about it 
a beach. Nature is not long (uiict in tlu' West Indies. 



CHAPTER II. 

Trinidad 

TRINIDAD lies ten degrees north of the equator, 
near the coast of Venezuela, and is supposed to be 
a broken off bit of the South American continent. 
Opposite to the island, on the mainland, is one of the 
principal mouths of the Orinoco River, and across the 
island, through a depression, this river evidently once 
Mowed to the ocean. 

The island was discovered by Columbus in 1498, on 
his third voyage to America, when his vessels were leak- 
ing, and he had only one cask of fresh water left. This 
was on Trinity Sunday, so Columbus, seeing three moun- 
tains rising from one base, called the island Trinidad. 
Across the Gulf of Paria he caught his first sight of the 
American continent. John Cabot had discovered the 
North American continent the year before. 

Trinidad has associations with three great admirals — ■ 
Columbus, who discovered it ; Sir Walter Raleigh, who 
plundered and fired its capital in his search for El 
Dorado; and Nelson, who was duped to visit it. Nelson 
chased the allied fleets across the Atlantic to the West 
Jndies. He was told that they were at Trinidad, when 
in fact they were at Martinique, and thus his ships be- 
came becalmed in the Gulf of Taria, where the one- 
eyed and one-armed little admiral chafed and cursed. 



Trinidad 



19 



while the alhed fleets safely convoyed some rich mer- 
chantmen back to Europe. Xelson had his dying revenge 
the following year at Trafalgar. 

Trinidad is aboiit fifty miles long, thirty-five miles 
wide, and has a mixed population of many colors, races. 




Coaling tin: lllu<-clici 

and tongues, numbering over three hundred thousand. 
The only large city is the Port of S])aiu, witli about si.xty 
thousand inhabitants. It is a well-constructed tro|)ical 
city with cleanlv-ke]:)t streets which arc ])a\-c(l willi asphalt 
frf)m I'itch Lal<e. In llic I'jigiisli (juarlers are ga_\-ly 
])ainted, air\- bungalows ihat stand out amid the green 



20 



Sight-Seeing in SoutJi America 



of the palms and bamboos, and harmonize with the bright 
blossoms of the hibiscus and the flaming poin'settias. 




JJy Hud iri,.-<lii,i,l 



Young" Cocoanut Palms 

Carriages with colored coachmen wearing the formal 
high silk hat, which looked curious in the tropics, were 
at the dock awaiting our arrival, and we were driven 
around the city, and out a good country road, following 



22 Sight-Seeing in South America 

a winding stream, and amid tropical vegetation to Mara- 
val Reservoir. This furnishes the water ^upply for the 
city. At the reservoir was a fine collc^-tion of orchids, 
the rarest of which was the very striking butterfly orchid, 
which closely resembles in form a"d color a brilliant 
tropical butterfly. 

On our return we stopped at the Botanical Garden, at 
the entrance of which are the well-kept grounds and the 
stately mansion of the governor of the island. The 
special features of the Botanical Garden are the tropical 
trees of many varieties, including the orange, lemon, 
banana, bread-fruit, coffee, the camphor tree, which 
smells and tastes like camphor when the leaf is crushed, 
and all sorts of stately bamboos and palms. One hardly 
knows when he leaves the Botanical Garden, for there is 
such a brilliant tropical vegetation everywhere that to one 
who has come but recently from the frozen, snow-cov- 
ered north, the whole island looks like a gorgeous garden. 

We lunched on the broad, airy verandas of the Queen's 
Hotel, looking out across the great, green campus, called 
the Savannah, upon which the English residents play 
cricket and indulge in other sports in the cool of the 
afternoons. The lunch of fish, fowl, fruit, and ices was 
excellent, but we were loath to linger at the table because 
of the semi-oriental group of colored peddlers and Hin- 
du jugglers outside, inviting us to buy their baskets of 
fruits, talking parrots, trained monkeys, cheap but ex- 
quisite linen embroideries and other products of the 
island. Monkeys and parrots from a dollar up were a 
temptation that many could not resist. Hindu jugglers 



Trinidad 



23 



with their clever tricks, added the flavor of the Orient 
to the American tropics. 

Abotit one-third of the inhabitants of Trinidad are 
Hindus. When slavery was abolished the problem of 
getting cheap, colored labor, where the white man cannot 
work, was solved bv importing East Indian coolies. The 
first shipload arrived in 1843. They came inicler gov- 
ernmental regulations, with a provision that upon the 




' Colored Children of Many Races 

expiration of their contracts the}' should l)e returned 
free, but the}- have so liked the new world that most 
Jiave remained. In the suburbs is the large East Indian 
coolie village of St. James. 

These Hindus brought with them their wive> and 
families, and their castes, costtmies, and cusloms. If 
Columbus could visit Port of Spain to-da_\- he wouM 



Trinidad 25 

find in the coolie village of St. James a realistic 
bit of that India that he supposed he was discovering. 
These Indian men are as thin and stately, and the girl? 
and women are as lithe and graceful as they are in old 
India. The girls and women, too, wear the heavy an- 
klets, the rings in their noses, and on their fingers and 
toes, and the countless silver bracelets, as they do on the 
other side of the globe. This jewelry takes the place 
of bank accounts. 

In the city the public buildings and churches are at- 
tractive, but not so unusual as to require a visit. The 
museum contains a fine collection of the birds and butter- 
flies of the island. The island was called by the Indians, 
lere, or humming-bird island, and these birds were then 
numerous. Now they are rare. The only ones that I 
saw were stuffed ones, secretly offered for sale, for the 
English Government forbids their killing. The neck 
feathers have all the changing hues of the rainbow. I 
was offered for a dollar a ruby humming-bird, which is 
one of the rarer ones. Its colors were as deep and 
brilliant as those of the finest blood ruby. The Indians 
believed that these swiftly-darting humming-birds were 
the flitting spirits of their departed relatives. 

Port of Spain is an excellent outfitting place for the 
tropics. The price of Panama hats and of the white 
suits worn in the tropics seemed very reasonable. Most 
of the cheap thin suits sold here are made in the sweat 
shops of New York. The cit}- is an bjiglish free port, 
and the lack of duty makes dress goods very cheap. 

The island exports a large amount of tro]Mcal products 
like chocolate beans, sugar, bananas, and ])ineap])les. 



26 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



The exports of cacao or chocolate bean annually amount 
to almost ten million dollars. We saw a number of 
large warehouses filled with these beans. 

Trinidad is the wonder island of the West Indies. 
Some native writer tersely puts it: "We have lakes of 
pitch, streams of tar, oysters growing on trees, crabs 
that climb trees and feed on the fruit, an animal resem- 




By 3Iiss Ihirullui llnrluralt 



A Contented Trio 

bling a fish that produces its young alive, a fish that enter- 
tains us with a trumpet, and another kind that is clad 
in a complete coat of armor." 

For lunch at the Queen's Park Hotel we ate some raw 
03'Sters that grow on trees. They were very small, but 
had a good fiavor. They attach themselves to the roots 
of the mangrove tree on the shore of the sea, and when 
the tide goes out they are left u]) in the trees. 



Trinidad 27 

In the rivers are the fierce carib fish about the size of 
a perch that have two sharp rows of teeth, and a few 
electric eels that are common to Venezuela. A school 
of electric eels will so shock cattle or people swimming 
that they will be temporarily paralyzed. It is said that 
a revolutionary A^enezuelan army, fording a stream, met 
a school of these eels, and were shocked so that the army 
was put out of commission. In the wet season, taran- 
tulas, centipedes, vampires, lizards, and serpents abound. 
We were tliere in the dry season, so the only unpleasant 
animals that I saw were a stuffed boa for sale, and a 
lizard about ten inches long wath a bright green stripe 
running from its head half way down its back. It was 
at home in the IJotanical Garden. 

The two natural wonders of the island are the Maracas 
Falls, not easily reached, three hundred and twelve feet 
high, resembling the Bridal Falls of the Yosemite. and 
the Pitch Lake. 

On the second morning at Trinidad the Bluecher took 
us to La Brea, a1)out thirty miles southeast of Port of 
Spain, to visit Pitch Lake, one of the world's greatest, 
but most unimposing wonders. At the dock at La r)rea 
there is a long pier from which ships are loaded with 
asphalt by an endless cable carrying buckets of as])halt 
from the lake. Xear the dock are quite a number of 
oil wells. From the dock extends an asphalt road up a 
slight hill to the lake, less than a mile. 

To the left of the road is a very fine pineapple grove. 
1die ])ineapples that grow in the as]ihalt-]iermeated soil 
around the lake liave an excellent flavor. 



28 Sight-Seeing in South America 

The lake itself covers about one hundred acres and its 
depth is unknown. A boring of 135 feet was made 
without reaching the bottom. 

The lake is semi-solid, rather than liquid, so that a 
person can walk over most of it without sinking. If he 
stands long in one place, his shoes will cut in, like in a 




lill V. 11. SK- 

The Semi-Solid Surface 

soft tar pavement in the summer. If he remains too 
long, however, he will disappear entirely. A small tram- 
way runs out into the lake, and this road has to be dug 
up and readjusted at intervals of several weeks. There 
are here and there, near the center, soft places in the 
lake where one can scoop up a handful of the black pitch 
and mold it into balls. As long as the hand is moist 



i -'vV-. 




lUi Wmitint G. Frl~..n 



Pitch Lake 



30 Sight-Seeing in South America 

the pitch does not stick. In these softer places the sur- 
face has a seamed appearance like that of an elephant's 
hide. 

The more solid part of the asphalt is used for com- 
mercial purposes. It is dug up with picks and is thrown 
into the cars. It comes usually in big chunks, and one 
of these a workman lifts onto his head and carries it to the 
car. A space alongside of the track is dug down two or 
three feet in one day, and the next morning the excava- 
tion is practically filled. This is repleted not by new, 
soft asphalt that pours in, but simply by a leveling up 
and down of the surrounding asphalt, much as happens 
when a pinch of putty is taken out of a putty ball. 

Millions of tons of asphalt have been shipped to 
America and Europe for the making of streets, but the 
supply is practically inexhaustible. The surface of the 
lake has been lowered only a few feet. 

When the cars are loaded some of the asphalt goes 
directlv to the dock for shipment, while a part is sent 
first to the refinery. Here the water, which amounts to 
about thirty per cent, of the weight, is extracted and 
then the asphalt is run out hot into barrels, looking much 
like coal tar. An American company owns the conces- 
sion for removing the asphalt from Pitch Lake and it 
pays, as a royalty to the government, a quarter of a mil- 
lion dollars a year. 

In Cuba and Venezuela there are other asphalt lakes, 
but none so valuable as the one in Trinidad. The Vene- 
zuelan lake covers about a thousand acres and is the larg- 
est in area in the world, but it is shallow, and difficult to 
reach from the sea. 



Trinidad 31 

After enjoying" the not un]:)leasantly liot walk to the 
lake and back, we returned to Port of Spain, and then 
sailed towards evening out of the Serpent's Mouth into 
the sea. The visit to Trinidad, often called the most 
beautiful and certainly the most wonderful of the ^^'est 
Indian Islands, was a pleasant break in the long voyage 
to South America. 



CHAPTER III. 

Pernambuco 

FRO!\I Trinidad to Pernambuco, Brazil, was a pleas- 
ant voyage of five days. The most delightful 
feature was the weather, and the most important 
event was the crossing of the equator. 

The thermometer ranged in the seventies and low 
eighties. At noon, on the day that we crossed the 
equator, the thermometer on deck stood at seventy-nine. 
Day and night the decks were as popular as summer hotel 
verandas, and the moonlight nights were ideal. 

Before reaching Pernambuco, we crossed the equator. 
The crossing is celebrated on shipboard usually with 
interesting ceremonies. The custom originated with the 
early superstitious Scandinavian sailors, who thought 
that in crossing the Arctic Circle they were entering such 
a dangerous ocean that they should invoke the protection 
of the sea king. Accordingly, they presented those who 
had never before crossed the circle with elaborate cere- 
monies and some horse play to the Court of Neptune. 
Then, in good old Viking style, Neptune's health was 
drunk in big bumpers. 

When the Scandinavian and Hanseatic sailors ventured 
down across the equator, they brought with them their 
Arctic Circle customs. They deemed that the crossing 
of the equator was worth commemorating, for the equa- 
tor marks a great dividing line both in the heavens and 
on earth. Here the sun comes up and goes down at 
right angles with the horizon. Here day and night are 



Pernauihnco 



33 



always equal, and there is no dawn or twilight, but only 
light or darkness. Here, too, the seasons change, and 
on our ship, winter passed to summer. Here, also, there 
are new heavens, for the brilliant northern stars and con- 
stelk'tions give ]:)lace to less imposing southern ones. 




/;// \v,iiitn,\ t; I- 



llu- Ivinalui- (.'crL-niDiiii 



The ( ireat l)i])per and the Xorlh Star (lisai)i)earrd be- 
neath the northern horizon, and the Southern Cross, tlie 
False Cross, and Cano])us donn"n;Ue the heavens. 

The night before we reacheil the e"uator, amid a 
bursting of bombs and a ])rofusion of red lights, a sailor 



34 Sight-Sceiiig in South America 

garbed as Neptune's herald, climbed up over the side of 
the ship, as if from out of the sea, and proclaimed that 
on the next afternoon Neptune would confer the rites 
of baptism and a sea-name upon all who had never 
crossed the equator. On deck, for the ceremonies, a 
large throne was erected and in front of it, for a font, 
a big canvas swimming pool was put up. 

At the appointed hour, old Neptune, with a shagg}^ sea 
moss beard and accompanied by a court of grotesquely 
dressed retainers, appeared, and preceded by a masked 
band, marched around the deck and upon the throne. 
Then the candidates were called before him and went 
through the rites of ablution, examination, and baptism. 

The men received vigorous treatment, but with special 
interest was watched the initiation of a bright young 
girl. She was seated upon the edge of the pool, where 
the court barber lathered her face with a white-wash 
brush, covering it with sticky soapsuds, and shaved her 
with a gigantic wooden razor. The dentist then tested 
her teeth with tweezers about three feet long, while the 
doctor applied a monster stethoscope to her heart. When 
the barber, dentist, and doctor had pronounced her 
"sound," she stood on the edge of the tank and Neptune 
conferred upon her a sea-name. Then, dressed in white 
and with white ribbons and sash ilying in the breezes, 
like a sweet girl graduate, amid the crash of the big 
bass drum and the plaudits of the passengers, into the 
pool she plunged. Here sailors, blackened and oiled to 
represent Nubian slaves, immersed her, initil she came 
out, looking like a mermaid. 



36 Sight-Sceing in South .-^iiicrica 

When the name of a well-known Ohio lawyer was 
called, he protested that he was from President Taft's 
State, that the President said that he did not need a bap- 
tism, and that if Neptune could only see President Taft, 
he would realize that Mr. Taft was a much bigger man 
than King Neptune, and that, therefore, ^Ir. Taft's word 
ought to be respected even in the southern realms. A 
distinguished actor then interjected that he had just 
received a wireless message from four hundred leading 
citizens of the lawyer's home city, stating that the attor- 
ney needed all the washings that he could get, and to duck 
him well. Into the pool he went. 

Thus, for an hour, the varied and interesting ceremonies 
continued. At dinner, Neptune's health was toasted, and 
in the evening a ball was given in his honor. In com- 
memoration of the event, all were presented with hand- 
somely engraved certificates from Ne]3tune, saying that 
he had crossed the equator in proper form, so that none 
would require another ducking at the line. 

The next dav we reached Pernambuco, which is located 
on the shoulder of South America where it approaches 
closest to Africa. Our constant eastwardly sailing made 
us realize that South America is a sort of midway con- 
tinent between North America and the Eastern Hemis- 
])here. All of South America is east of Cleveland, while 
Valparaiso, the largest Pacific seaport south of San 
Francisco, is east of New York. 

Pernambuco is so situated upon the Great South 
American Trade Routes that it will probably become one 
of the large cities of the world. P is about equidistant 
from New York and the Europeav. seaports, and it is 



Pcniaiubiico 



37 



the first port of call for European and American ships 
bound for Rio, Santos, and Buenos Aires. It is also 
the nearest port to Africa, and in the projected Iberian, 
African, and South American Railway that is to connect 




Hii c. rt. .s--vv/„»s' 

I'ncle Sam on the Lont; I'ronienade Ucck 

Europe with South America, it is at one end of the three 
days' ferr}' Ijetwcen Africa and South Aiuerica. 

Officially, Recife is the name of the city, and I'ernam- 
buco is the name of a Brazilian State of about the area 
of Ohio, of which Recife is the ca])ital. Recife is derived 
from reef, and the city is situated l)ehind a coral reef 
that forms a small harbor in front of the citv. rcrnam- 



38 Sight-Seeing in South America 

buco means stone-pierced, and that name was given it 
because there is an opening here through the stone reef. 
Large ships, Hke the Bhiecher, cannot get within the 
reef, and are compelled to anchor out in the open ocean 
and to unload on to tenders. When the waves are high 
it is very difficult to land passengers or freight. We had 




By Riiil Jlir.shiiKl 



X Difficult Lan.linc 



a quiet sea, but our tender carried a big basket that 
looked like a wicker well. It was about twelve feet 
high, six feet in diameter, with a large door in one side, 
and seats arotmd part of the inside. Half a dozen or 
more passengers get into the basket, on the ship's deck, 
when it is hoisted up by a derrick, swung out over the 
sea, and as the bobbing tender comes beneath, it is quickly 
lowered to the tender's deck. Alanv regretted that the 



Peniainbiico 



39 



calm sea prevented our having the experience of such an 
unusual landing. 

Pernambuco is built on a number of islands, connected 
by bridges, and it is frequently called the \^enice of 




.u i;. 



Ilrazil. In its island formation it is luore like Stockhnlm. 
but in the beaut\- and in the ^■arict_^■ of its buildings it 
ri\-als the cit\- of \'enice. 

Idle landing stage s(|uare. with its groups of lazy idlers, 
by resemblances and contrasts, suggested St. Mark's 



Penianibuco 41 

Square in Venice. Both are surrounded with IniikHngs 
of impressive dignity. Around the Square in I'ernam- 
buco are narrow foiu' and five-story mercantile buihUngs, 
with bright tile fronts and steep dark red tile roofs. They 
are a mixture of old Dutch influences with the Portu- 
guese, and are very imposing. The}- give to the Square 
as commanding a commercial dignity as St. Mark's pos- 
sesses a palatial dignity. It is unfortunate that the spirit 
of progress should decree the tearing out of this unicjue, 
picturesque old Square, to make w?y for broader streets 
and parks. 

Pernambuco has a population of about 150,000. Its 
principal commerce is in sugar and cotton. In the old 
business section is a crowded mass of stores and ware- 
houses separated bv narrow, winding, rlusty streets. 

Here in the dust, roll and frolic babies and children in 
nature's garb and darker than the dirt. The average 
com]5lexion of the people is ilark, for Pernambuco was 
in the heart of the sugar and cotton slave district, and 
through the intermixture of races there is a general 
brownness of hue. COUm' is not a bar to social e(|uality. 

Xear the Sc|uare i^ass many small street cars, drawn 
by little horses and mules that trot along at a good speed. 
We boarded one of these that took us across several 
long bridges, thnuigli an old gatcwa}' tlial si)aii> the 
principal sho])])ing street, and on out to a \-er\- delightful 
residence suburb. 

In the residence portion there i> briglitness and beaul\- 
and color. The fronts of the houses are covered with 
delicatel\- tiiUcd tiles. Man}- have elaborate traceries of 
])ale i)ink> and ])hies, suggestive ol wall ])a])er. I alwavs 



42 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



think of Pernambuco as the wall-paper city. The cheaper 
plastered houses have also their fronts stenciled after the 
same tile or wall-paper designs. 

Aside from the general color, brilliancy, and beauty, 
which make Pernambuco one of the most unique and fas- 




By M 



Public Square 

cinating cities of South America, there is little to detain 
a traveler. The old churches have a profusion of saints 
and decorations, but they are in no wa}' remarkable. 
There are a few large, well-constructed government 



Peniambuco 



43 



buildings, like the barracks and the city hall, but the most 
imposing building, as in many South American cities, is 
the Municipal Theater. 

Several of us called uj^on the director of the theater, 
and he ver}- cordial]}' conducted us through the large 




,i If 




/;// ./. /J. frier 



Lottery Agency 



frame structure, whicli stands alime, (>])])( isilc die Chy 
Park. The theater is grandiose, rather than grand. 
From stage to stage around the theater extend four tiers 
of balconies, the lower two being of boxes. idie build- 



44 Sights eeiug in South America 

ing is so constructed as to enable the audience to look at 
itself, which in Latin countries it enjoys doing as well 
as to see the stage. 

While waiting for the shi]Vs tender, we met a colored 
man with a water-melon. I oiiered him fifteen cents 
for it, which he refused, but he finally sold me half for 
that amount. I had him divide the half, and on a retired 
corner, two of us enjoyed the novelty of eating, in Feb- 
ruary, the heart of a luscious water-melon. A grinning 
colored bo}^ watched expectantly our dripping chins, and 
we soon gave him more than the rind. He could not 
speak a word of English, but we guessed that he liked 
water-melon. 

This colored boy eating water-melon is indicative of 
the happy contentment that prevails in Pernambuco. 
Food comes easily, the people live easily, no one hustles 
or hurries, and life amid the beautiful environs is one 
delightful dream. 

( )n our return to the Bluecher, we found that two of 
the passengers who had remained on the ship had caught 
a shark ten feet long and weighing some seven or eight 
hundred pounds. It had been captured by throwing into 
the sea three large hooks bated with pork attached to a 
heavy rope. It required sixteen men to draw the shark 
u]) out of the water so that it could be shot. It was 
hit fourteen times, but when it was hoisted upon the 
deck its tail was lashed to a capstan as it was still dan- 
gerous. Its big mouth made it an ugly looking fish. 
Sailors cut out its teeth, \\'hich are sharp and saw-like, 
and passed them among the passengers as souvenirs. 
Thev then oi)ened its stomach and found in it a thio-h bone 



Pernambiico 



45 



and a woman's shoe, which were suggestive. As we 
lifted anchor, this great man-eating fish was thrown 




A'/ Mix" DomthtJ Horlnr;!/ 

The Sliark on Deck 



hack into the sea, to he eaten hy the other sharks that 
infest these waters. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Santos 

SANTOS, the world's greatest coffee port, is about 
a day's sail south of Rio. On our way from Per- 
nambuco, we came so close to Rio that we obtained 
a tantalizing view of its harbor, of the precipitous moun- 
tains around it. and of the jutting island rocks in front 
of it. \\ bile it was disappointing to pass without stop- 
ping, yet it is well to see first the other cities, for the 
visit to Rio, in charm and interest, is the climax of all 
South American cruises.' 

We reached the docks at Santos by sailing up a narrow 
winding channel, called the Santos River, for about six 
miles. The city is located on a low, flat island, which 
is drained by immense sewers, and stretches from the 
river across to the ocean. 

The population of Santos is about fifty thousand and 
it is slowly increasing. The city is said to have been 
founded in 1543, by Eiraz Cubas, whose statue stands in 
the public square. 

The center of interest and activity are the docks. 
They are about two miles and one-half long, and are the 
only docks between New York and Buenos Aires acces- 
sible to a ship the size of the Bluecher. They were 
planned by an American engineer, but built by an Eng- 
lish company, which owns a very valuable concession. 
These docks are usually lined with ships from all parts 
of the world. The coffee exports amount annually to 



Santos 47 

about one hundred million^ dollars, and the imports of 
various kinds to one-half of that sum. 

Along" the docks, about fifty feet back from the sea- 
wall, extends a roAv of great warehouses. Between the 
ships and ^varehouses is always an animated scene. 
There are countless lines of perspiring olive-skinned men, 
every one bearing on his back a big bag of coffee from 
the warehouse to the ship. Ten million bags of coffee 
a year are thus carried. Steam cranes at the same time, 
on the docks and ships, are lifting cargoes of flour, meat, 
and manufactured articles and depositing them on the 
dock, which are borne oft' quickly by other files of men. 
Under the American tropical sun the Latin works. There 
is no laziness or loafing, nor even the Latin siesta. 

In the warehouses coft'ee is assorted and rebagged. 
There is no coft'ee grown near the city, but it is raised 
in the coffee district west of Sao Paulo, and brought down 
to the docks bv train. Some of the carg-o of a freiehter 
which came in from Xew York and tied up just ahead 
of us attracted attention. On her forward deck were 
two large American fl}'irg machines. From her hold was 
being unloaded a large amount of flour, bearing an 
American label upon the sacks. It was Argentina flour, 
whicli had been ship])ed from Ikienos Aires to Xew York, 
tliere stamped with an American brand and sent back to 
Santos, because the Brazilians think our American flour 
makes better bread than that of their southern neighbor. 
There are tricks in trade in South America as well as 
elsewhere. 

A noticeable feature of the docks is the absence of 
the fly and mosquito, lie fore the marshes were drained 



Santos 49 

and the mosqiiitos exterminated, yellow fever made this 
the deadliest port in the world. Whole crews of ships 
coming for cofifee would die of yellow fever before they 
could be loaded, and their vessels would be left stranded. 
For half a dozen years there has not been a case of yel- 
\o\\ fever. Everv one ^Icpt on our ship tied up to the 
dock, without even the precaution of a mosquito bar. 

The general appearance of the city is neat and attrac- 
ti\e. The streets are broad and the houses are mostly 
one and two stories high. The residences are surrounded 
by yards with tropical plants and flowers, and look like 
small villas. The stores have little that is tempting, and 
the prices are high. The pul)lic l)uildings are not of 
much moment. 

There are several old Catholic churches in the city. 
On the hill is the chapel of Montserrat. One of the 
churches in the city is in charge of the Carmelites. The 
present members of the order are from Holland, as the 
old Portuguese ones had largely died out. The Rev. 
C. W. Currier, a professor in the Catholic University at 
Washington, well describes the courtyard of the old 
Carmelite monastery. 

"The most interesting object in this old, decayed mon- 
asterv is the small, but beautiful courtyard. In the 
center lies l)uried l)Onifacio d" Andrada. tlie ]xitriarcli of 
Brazilian independence, who headed tlie rcx-olulion that 
|)Ut Don Pedro I. on the throne. The tonil) with il^ re- 
cund)ent effig}'. decorated \vith the masduic insignia. 
creates a line effect. {"'recmasonrA' was. at one time, very 
powerful in Rrazil, and if rumor is correct, it wa-^ not 
only countenanced by some of the clerg}', but clergyinen 



50 Sight-Sceing in South America 

entered its ranks. The fact is that Bonifacio is buried 
in a monastery, in the shadow of a church, with masonic 
insignia." 

Several electric car lines run down the very broad 
boulevard to the sea, to San \'incente, where there are 
several large seaside hotels, a very fine white beach. 
and good bathing. At the beach the car lines diverge, 
the one to the left passing a number of beautiful bunga- 
lows, situated back from the road in large grounds, and 
also a large girls' school, and ending at the Marine Train- 
ing School. This is an institution of the Federal Gov- 
ernment for training boys for the navy. In consideration 
of the technical education that they receive, the boys 
agree to serve for ten years in the navy yards or on the 
men-of-war. There were about a hundred boys at the 
school, from twelve to eighteen, and they looked bright 
and alert. The officials were very polite in showing us 
through the school. The dormitories were large and airy 
and the boys sleep in hammocks. 

On the electric cars to and from the beach were a 
number of school children who could not speak English, 
but who were well dressed and attractive in appearance. 
Two sisters wore stylish light gowns, exactly alike, which 
is considered chic in Latin countries, and they parted 
their black hair on the side, after the South American 
style. The smaller boys and girls had big geographies 
and other school books, similar to our American ones. 
These Brazilian school children all appeared clean, neat, 
and bright. 

The most popular resort near Santos is Guaruja, which 
is reached easily and quickly every hour by ferry across 



Soiitos 51 

the Santos River, and then by a httle train through beau- 
tiful tropical verdure to the seashore. Here one of the 
finest seaside hotels in South America is being erected. 
Delightful paths through the dense forests ha\'e been 
cut, so that this resort through a combination of a fine 
beach and interesting forest-walks, with a magnificent 
hotel, promises to be one of the most charming winter 
resorts upon the American continent. 



CHAPTER V. 

Sao Paulo 

THE State of Sao Paulo consists of a low, narrow, 
marshy strip along the sea, an abrupt bluff aboiit 
three thousand feet high, and a lofty tableland 
gently sloping westward. Of this great coffee State, with 
an area about equal to that of New York and the New 
England States combined, Santos is the chief seaport, 
Sao Paulo the capital, and the vSao Paulo Railway the 
sole artery of east and west travel. 

We left Santos for Sao Paulo, fifty miles in the inte- 
rior, on a special train, and traveled first through a 
beautiful tropical jungle, in which were here and there a 
few clearings with vine-covered cottages, surrounded by 
bright flowers and large banana patches. Soon our steam 
engine was dispensed with, our train was divided into 
sections of two cars, and to each section a small cable 
engine was attached. This gripped a long trailing steel 
cable which pulled us up the incline. The incline is 
about six miles long and attains a height of over half a 
mile. There are four power houses along the line, and 
separate cables for every section. The line is double- 
tracked, and up-going cars are balanced by down-coming 
ones. There is also a similar parallel incline at a lower 
level of several hundred feet. 

As the road skirts the edge of the great mountain 
forest we observed the tragic fight for light and air on 
the part of tree and plant life in the Brazilian woods. 
Trees crowd trees imtil on stalelv trunks they lift hie'h 



Sao Paulo 53 

their heads, millions of orchids and parasites of varions 
kinds cling to their trunks and branches, vines reach out 
their tendrils and .form festoons, and beneath the trees, 
and almost as tall, grow ferns and rank weeds. There 
is no light or shade in the appearance of these sloping- 
mountain forests, but simply a monotonous bank of 
green. So preponderating is this green that only as the 
eye studies the forest does it perceive the tops of many 
trees, all aflame with bright flowers. Then, as the eve 
picks and lingers on these big, lavender and purple blos- 
soms, one begins to find a charm and variety in the 
r'u'azilian forests. 

Noticeable along the forest line is the stillness and the 
absence of animal life. A\'e heard no chirps nor calls, 
and saw no flitting birds, nor scurrying squirrels and 
rabbits, as we do on the edges of our own woods, but 
those who have penetrated into these dense Brazilian for- 
ests say that they are loudly vocal with all kinds of 
insect, bird, and larger animal life. 

At the top of the incliric our train was reunited, antl 
an English-built engine quickl}- hurried us over the irreg- 
ular plateau towards Sao l^aulo. AA'e stopped at a large 
railway station in some hamlet long enough for all to 
get out anfl try a cup of Sao Paulo cotTee. It was served 
in little cups, in the bottoms of which was much sugar. 
It was poured in boiling hot and was drunk strong and 
without cream. It Vvas as sweet, but not as thick and 
molasses-like as Turkisli cofl'cc. It i^ u-uall\- ser\-cd in 
this way in Brazil, and the regular price is three cents 
a cu]). .Mr. X. ( ). Winter, in his \'er\- readable book on 
IJrazil, states that there is a Brazilian ])r()\-erl) wliieh savs 



54 



Sights ceing in South America 



rhat good coffee must be as "strong as Satan, as black as 
ink, as hot as Hades, and as sweet as love." 

As we rode over this railroad all were attracted by its 
superb physical condition. The road-bed is smooth and 




Santos, Sao Paulo Railway Station 



solid, the gutters and waterways are cemented, the sta- 
tions in the smallest hamlets are excessively large and 
fine, and the rolling stock is excellent. In Sao Paulo 



Soo Paulo 55 

the largest and finest station in South America has been 
erected. 

The reason for the model condition of the road is that 
its charter provides that the excess of the profits after 
paying twelve per cent, dividends to the stockholders, 
shall go to the State. As the income is very large, money 
is lavished upon betterments to prevent payments to the 
State. Many years ago, when the State was anxious to 
secure the building of this railroad from its capital to 
the sea, which was a difficult engineering feat, it guar- 
anteed to the builders seven per cent, upon their invest- 
ment, and gave to the company a railroad monopoly for 
twenty-five miles on either side of their track. Since 
then has come the cofifee development and the wonderful 
growth of Sao Paulo. High rates have been maintained. 
Consequently this English owned, English equipped, and 
English operated mountain raihvay has probably the best 
road-bed and equipment of any railway in the world. 

The city of Sao Paulo is a surprise and an inspiration. 
The tradition that South America contains an El Dorado, 
or city of gold, still holds the fancy of the world. Every 
one somehow thinks that he can find in South America 
untold riches. To many. Sao Paulo has ]n-ovcn an El 
Doradt). Within twent}'-five years her population has 
leaped from thirt}'-five to three lumdred and fift^■ thou- 
sand. I^and values have doubletl and redoubled and are 
still doubling. Immense fortunes have been and are 
being marie in many wa}'S. 

This cit\' has become the princii^al coffee depot of the 
world. \e.\t to Kio, it is tlie cliiel" manufacturing and 
industrial citv of Prazil. The new. large cotton factories 



56 Sight-Seeing in Soiitli America 

with their tall chimneys, the recently-built comfortable 
homes of the mechanics, the long avenues of fine resi- 
dences, the general stir and bustle of business, makes an 
American feel in Sao Paulo that he is in one of his own 
prosperous American cities. Here is a modern South 
American city in which an American can enjoy living and 
working. It is never hot or cold ; the air is pure, the 
environs are beautiful, and tbe business opportunities are 
boundless. 

The city stands on a high tableland and overlooks a 
broad country to distant mountains. It has fine views 
and a broad horizon, and it might have been called, like 
another Brazilian State capital, the beautiful horizon city. 
Its altitude of nearly three thousand feet prevents it from 
becoming hot, although it is located almost upon the 
Tropic of Capricorn. The same elevation may give to 
its citizens that vigor and energy for which they are 
distinguished. 

Out of harmony with the city's progress is the narrow, 
crowded shopping district in the old part of the city. 
The Rua Direita and the Rua 15th de Novembro, the 
principal shopping streets, have only small stores. Some. 
of the old buildings are being torn out and larger ones 
erected, but the shopping district as a whole is not keep- 
ing up with the growth of tlie great city. There is prob- 
ably not a better place in the world for large department 
stores upon our American plan. 

The stores have an European appearance ; but little 
of their stock is manufactured in Brazil, less comes from 
the United States, while everywhere there are English. 




Rua Direita 
Tlie Main Business Street 



58 Sight-Seeing in South America 

German, and French made articles. The reason for this 
possibly is the general European taste. The old Portu- 
guese Paulista population is the governing one in Sao 
Paulo, and most of the remaining people are European 
born. There are over a hundred thousand Italians, and 
very large German and Portuguese colonies. Americans 
are few, the principal American goods offered for sale 
are sewing machines, typewriters, cash registers, and 
graphophones. 

An important American enterprise, however, is the Sao 
Paulo Tramway, Light & Power Company, which belongs 
to a Canadian corporation, but in which is invested a large 
amount of both American and Canadian money. This 
company owns also the Rio electric street railway service. 
Power for Sao Paulo is brought from the falls in the 
Tiete River some miles distant. The street car service 
in Sao Paulo is up to the best American standards, and 
employment in the company is prized by the youth of 
Sao Paulo as being the equivalent to an American busi- 
ness training. An easy way to see Sao Paulo is by 
electric car. 

Another prominent American institution is Mackensie 
College. It was started as a Presbyterian Missionary. 
School, but later, receiving a gift of $50,000 from ]Mr. 
John T. Mackensie. became mdependent, and is operated 
now under a charter from the State of New York. Its 
work is conducted in the Portuguese language ; it ranks 
well among tbe many excellent schools and colleges of 
Sao Paulo. Tbe most famous college here is the Sao 
Paulo Law School, which has educated many of the dis- 
tinguished statesmen of P)razil. 



Sao Paulo 



59 



The municipal and State buildings in Sao Paulo are 
not remarkable for size or architectural beauty, but they 
are interesting on account of the variety of what might 
be called welfare work, that has been carried on in them 
by both citv and State. The government assists in the 




Residence of United States Consular Agent 

maintenance of a commercial college, a dramatic and 
musical conservatory, and furnishes money to a numbcr 
of artists to go to Europe to pursue their studies. A 
peculiar municipal department is that for the destruction 
of ant hills. In some parts of Sao Paulo ants arc a 
nuisance, and thev construct ant hills from three to five 



60 Sights eciiig in South America 

feet high. Another department is for the production 
of a serum to destroy the poison of snake bites, under the 
direction of the famous Dr. Mtal Brazil. 

The State legislature of Sao Paulo has been the most 
enterprising and the most daring of any in the world. 
Some years since it decided that Sao Paulo needed immi- 
gration, so it sent commissioners to Europe to secure 
immigrants and it paid their way to Sao Paulo. In Sao 
Paulo it erected and still maintains a large immigrant 
hotel at which it entertains, as guests of the city, all 
immigrants for a week after their arrival, in order to give 
them an opportunity to make contracts of employment. 
We do not treat our immigrants so hospitably. 

The most extraordinary governmental undertaking of 
the State of Sao F'aulo was that for the valorization of 
coffee. About 1886 began the coffee boom. In that 
year Brazil produced 5,586,000 bags of coffee and in 
1906-07 it had mounted to 20,409,180 bags: The average 
yield now is about 12,000.000 bags of 132 pounds. Since 
1900 the production has exceeded greatly the world's 
consumption. The price of coffee decreased more than 
one-half, so that the coft'ee planters faced bankruptcy. 
In 1901, in response to the appeal of the coffee growers 
for hel]), the State of Sao Paulo prohibited the further 
planting of coffee trees for a ]:ieriod of five years, which 
term has been renewed. When the coffee crop of 1906-07 
promised to be unusually large, the State of Sao Paulo 
again came to the rescue of the planters by buying over 
ninety million dollars worth of coff'ee and storing it in 
warehouses in Europe and America until a short crop 
should increase the price. The annual interest and ware- 



Sao Paulo 61 

house charges amounted to about fifteen million dollars. 
JMost of that coffee in 1912 is still in storage, but the 
increasing price and consumption of coffee make it prob- 
able that the State of Sao Faulo will not lose on her 
investment. At the same time, she has protected the 
coffee industry, which she largely fostered through free 
immigration. Later several other Brazilian States united 
with Sao Paulo in the valorization scheme. 

Coft"ee takes its name from Kaff'a, Abyssinia, where it 
was first found. It was transported to Arabia, where it 
became popular about a thousand years ago, when a 
pious jMohammedan discovered that a cup would keep 
him awake during prayers. Slowly its use crept across 
Europe, and the first coffee house in London was opened 
in 1652. In 1690, the Dutch took the first coft'ee tree 
from Mocha, Arabia, to Java. In 1723, De Cheux, a 
Norman gentleman, brought the first coffee tree to Amer- 
ica and planted it in ^lartinicpie. The voyage was long 
and stormy, and the Xorman is said to have shared half 
of his scanty ration of water v.-ith the coffee plant to keep 
it alive. It was sickl}-. but revived after reaching Mar- 
tinique, and soon its off'-shoots supplied all France with 
coffee. In 1760, the first ])lant was taken to Brazil. 

Coffee beans var}- in size. A small measure holding 
fiit}' grams of watcM- will contain one hundred and eighty- 
seven grains of fine Java, two hundred and thirteen of 
Santos, two hundred and seventeen of ^locha. two hun- 
dred and thirt}--six of Rio. and t\\■(^ hundred and forty- 
eight of Manila. It is claimed tlial Ja\-a and Mocha are 
no longer geographical nanie,^. l)ut >iiupl\- trade names 
that arc ap])lied to cofl'ee beans on account of iheir size. 



62 



Sight-Sceing in South America 



Very little coffee from Java and Arabia reaches America, 
but our Java and Mocha mixed may come from the same 
tree in Sao Paulo. 




By Rial Riexlnnd 



A Brazilian Regiment 



The United States consumes over one-half of the coffee 
raised in the world, and three- fourths of it comes from 
Sao Paulo. The greatest coffee-drinking country per 
capita is Holland, the second Sweden, and the third the 
United States. France and Germany drink per capita 



Sao Paulo 63 

one-half of what we do, while England, being a tea- 
drinking country, uses very little coffee. 

The principal coffee district of Sao Paulo is in the 
red earth region about fifty miles west of the capital. 
Our time did not permit us to visit it. We saw, there- 
fore, very few coffee trees, but we did see an abundance 
of red earth. 

There are, however, two kinds of red earth. ^Iv. 
Pierre Denis says, in regard to these kinds: "Eruptions 
probably tertiary have spread over the surface of the 
plateau lavas which are rich in phosphorus. Decomposed 
these lavas form a deep soil, dark in tone, which the 
Paulistas call 'red earth,' though it might more appro- 
priately be called purple, to distinguish it from the other 
red earth, which is formed by the decay of gneiss and 
granite."" 

There are several beautiful parks in the city, of which 
the one opposite the Luz, or the Sao Paulo Station, is the 
most attractive, and two large public buildings, the 
[Municipal Theater and the Ypiranga Museum, that are 
well worth seeing. South American cities usually 
possess Municipal Theaters, to the support of which the 
city governments largely contnljute. Many of these 
theaters are extremely costly, and those in Sao Paulo. 
Rio, and Buenos Aires surpass any in New York or 
Chicago, and have been built to rival, if not to excel, the 
Paris Opera House. The one in Sao Paulo is (|uiie new 
and is very magnificent. .V special feature in it is the 
large cafe in the basement, constructed and decorated 
in Egyptian style. 



■^.^^1\ 




f^ .... 





Sao Paulo 65 

The Ypiranga Alnseuni is in an industrial suburb, eas- 
ily reached by electric cars, and was erected to commem- 
orate the spot upon which the independence of Brazil 
was declared. Brazil was a province of Portugal, and 
Dom Pedro, the son of King John of Portugal, was the 
governor. Taxation ditTerences arose between the two 
countries, and the I'ortuguese Cortes at Lisbon heaped 
indignities upon the Brazilian commissioners. When 
Dom Pedro heard of this at Ypiranga, upon his return 
from a hunting expedition, he at once drew his sword 
and proclaimed to his attending lords and suite, "Liberty 
or death is my watchword." This was on September 
the seventh, 1822, and almost every city in Brazil has 
honored the day by naming one of its principal streets, 
the Seventh of September Street, just like we might have 
Fourth of July streets. 

The museum is a large, handsome structure, and it 
contains the nucleus of a fine natural history collection. 
Its display of bright Brazilian butterflies is very inter- 
esting. 

On the wall of the large hall, above the entrance, is a 
great painting depicting Dom Pedro upon that s])ot pro- 
claiming the independence of Brazil. .Shortlv after- 
wards he was crowned emperor and reigned nine vears. 
Then he was forced to abdicate in favor of his five-vear- 
(ild son. who became Dom Pedro TF. He in turn, after 
he had occupied the throne for fifty-eight }'ears. was 
compelled to abdicate on Xovember the fifteenth, and to 
l)ecome an exile in Lur(^]:)e. By a bloodless rexolution 
tl'A' iireseiit Renublic was tlieii estal)]i.slied. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Buenos Aires 

BUENOS AIRES is the largest city beneath the 
Southern Cross. Its population is almost a million 
and a half, and it is increasing at the rate of about 
fifty thousand a year. It is the largest Spanish speaking 
city in the world, and the second largest Latin city, being 
surpassed alone by Paris. Among American cities, it is 
exceeded only by New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. 
The Argentinians are so confident of its future growth 
that its area is four times that of Manhattan Island, three 
times that of Berlin, and twice that of Paris. 

Buenos Aires is the Paris of all the Americas. It is 
the political, social, and commercial capital of a great 
nation, and it is also a gay, artistic,<^leasure-loving capi- 
taly More than Paris rules France, Buenos Aires dom- 
inates Argentina. Buenos Aires is called the city, and 
the rest of Argentina the camp. Every fifth Argentinian 
lives in Buenos Aires, and all interests converge in, or 
radiate from Buenos Aires. 

Through its gateway flows the foreign commerce of 
Argentina, a country as large as all of the United States 
east of the Mississippi with Texas added. 

This great capital is a constant astonishment to an 
American. No amount of reading prepares him for 
finding upon the American continent such an European 
looking city, combining at the same time the beauty and 
gayety of Paris, with the solidity and finish of Berlin. 



Buenos Aires 67 

The first appearance of the city from the approaching 
ship is pleasing. While Buenos Aires has no magnificent 
amphitheater setting like Rio or Constantinople, for it is 
built on the low bank of the mudcl\^ La Plata, yet it has 
a quiet attractiveness of its own. Its shipping is all 
enclosed in land-locked basins, so that its river front is 
unobscured by any boats. Consequently, the city stands 
out neat and clean and clear on the water's edge. 

The La Plata River and the docks first attract 
attention. They are the most important features 
of Buenos Aires. This Silver River, as the Spaniards 
named it, forms the second largest river system in tlie 
world, carrying into the sea twice as much water as our 
own Mississippi. At its mouth it is as big as a bay, and 
at Buenos Aires it is twenty-eight miles wide. Its water 
is saturated with mud, which is constantly being deposited 
at Buenos Aires' front door. To keep the river channel 
clean so that Buenos Aires may not become an inland 
city requires constant dredging. The Bluecher drew 
twenty-four feet of water and for a long distance its 
keel cut and scraped through the soft mud of the river's 
bottom. This is the deepest ship that can enter the port, 
and Buenos Aires is inaccessible to the new, large, eco- 
nomic ships of the North Atlantic. 

The dock problem is a pressing ouq. The present 
Madero docks are three luiles long, took five years to 
build, and cost forty million dollars, but the}' are no 
longer sufficient for the enormous commerce of Buenos 
Aires. Many ships arc waiting constantly at the anchor- 
age sevc'1-al miles below the cit\' tor an (»])poi-tnnily to get 
into the docks. 



68 Sight-Seeing in South America 

In a yacht we steamed through the three miles of 
basins, crowded with all kinds and sizes of ships, and 
bearing the flags of all nations, except onr own. Many 
of the ships from Oriental lands were cjuite picturesque. 
The docks along either side of the basins are ecjuipped 
with tracks, cranes, and derricks for the rapid handling 




Wool Warehouse 



of freight, and are lined with great brick and cement 
warehouses, many of them of uniform style. At one end 
of the basins are numerous tall grain elevators. 

Buenos Aires is the chief port for most of the exports 
and imports of Argentina. The foreign commerce of 
Argentina is immense, being per capita about three times 



Buenos Aires 



69 



that of the United States. In 1910 our per capita of 
imports was $16.96, of exports $20.00, while Argentina's 
imports per capita were $48.01, and exports $69.88. We 
produce largely what we consume, while Argentina sells 
her food products and raw materials and buys her manu- 
factured articles. 




JSi/ r. II. s 



Interior Wool WareliniiiJe 



Argentina raises more sheep than any other cininlrv 
except Australia, and here is her i)rinci])al wool market. 
Great brick wool warehouses extend for Iial f a mile along 
the docks. We \-isited one with a llonr sjiace n\ ahoul 
forty acres and saw the tleece, black and wliite. from .^o 



70 Sights ceing in South America 

many sheep that the figures were hewildering. Here the 
wool is baled and much of it shipped to the United States. 

The immense basins jammed with ships, the blocks of 
streets lined with large banks, the narrow crowded busi- 
ness thoroughfares, the many street cars, and the great 
suburban traffic constantly remind the visitor of the big- 
ness and the business of Buenos Aires. The business is 
almost entirely commercial, for there are but few facto- 
ries, as Argentina is deficient in coal and iron. The lack 
of factory chimneys is to an American one of the strik- 
ing features of the city's sky line. 

The streets in the old business part of the city are 
thirty-three feet wide, so that street cars go down one 
street and up the next, and the tracks are placed near to 
the curb in order to give other vehicles an opportunity to 
pass. There is an excellent electric car service to all 
parts of the city. For many years after the horse street 
car service was established, the city required every street 
car through the narrow streets to be preceded by a man 
on foot carrying a red flag. 

The principal shopping street is the narrow Calle 
Florida, which extends from the Plaza de San Martin, 
on which is the Plaza Hotel, the finest in South America, 
to the Avenida de Mayo. The shops are small and their 
appearance Parisian. There are, however, several fair- 
sized department stores, like miniature Bon Marches with 
some English speaking clerks. The prices usually are 
high, especially for shoes and clothes. Twelve dollars 
was the price of an American-made shoe that sells in 
the United States for five. This seemed to be the 



Buenos Aires 



71 



average shoe price in this lane! that produces so much 
hide. 

The Calle Florida is the fashionable promenade in the 
afternoons, when no vehicles are permitted upon it. The 
sidewalks are so narrow that the stylishly gowned ladies 



:/--^is^^-:''^?;Vr;--' 




By I. ('. M» 



riaza llolul 



walk in the street to or from the stores. The popular 
confectioners serve ices and tea. Imt no American soda- 
water. Our American soda-water fountains are as scarce 
in South America as they are in Europe. The manv 



72 Sight-Seeing in South America 

English in Buenos Aires are popularizing the four o'clock 
tea habit. 

We were interested in the street costumes of these far- 
southern brunettes. The Argentinian ladies, when they 
are not wearing mourning, of which there seems to be an 
unusual amount, due to the fashion to adopt it for the 
most distant cousins, follow the extremes of Parisian 
styles, especially in the brightness of their gowns and the 
size of their hats. They also burden their faces with a 
surplusage of powder, rouge, and enamel. With all this 
artificiality they have the grace, brightness, and too often 
the stoutness of the Spanish women. 

At the head of the Calle Florida is the Avenida de 
Mayo, the Pennsylvania Avenue of Buenos Aires. It is 
a hundred feet wide and was cut through the heart of the 
city. It extends for a mile and a half from the Govern- 
ment Building, which is the Executive Mansion or "Pink 
House" of Argentina, to the magnificent new high-domed 
Congresso Building. 

The "Pink House" is a large brick plastered structure 
tinted a light pink. One wing contains the President's 
home and the rest the offices of the various executive 
departments. It is built in Spanish style and includes a 
number of beautiful patios. As I was strolling through 
the building some gentleman, who could speak very little 
English, volunteered to act as guide, and after taking xnz 
upon the roof to get a fine view down the Avenida. and 
through many departments that seemed to be over- 
crowded, suggested that, if I would wait a moment, he 
would endeavor to show me the private apartments 
of the President. He was unable to do so, but he had 




litj I. C. M<, 



Avenida dc Mayo 



74 



Sights ceing in South America 



been so kind and polite that I was puzzled, not knowing 
his position about offering a tip. Finally I decided to 
follow the rule in Europe — when in doubt, tip, so as we 




Tomb of lieneral San Martin 



shook hands to say good-by, I slipped some money into 
his hand. As soon as he felt it, he dashed it to the pave- 
ment, then, seeing that I meant well, he good-naturedly 
picked it up and returned it to me. ^^'ith renew^ed 



Buenos Aires 



/D 



smiles and hand-shakes we pleasantly parted. I left, 
wondering what high official I had attempted to fee, but 
I Avas pleased to find a foreigner who would do a service 
and not accept a tip. 

In front of the GoA'ernment Building is the large Plaza 
de ^lavo. Cn its southwest corner stands the Cabildo, 




The Cathedral 



the "Independence Hall" of Argentina. In it. on May 23, 
1910, the revolutionary junta declared the independence 
of Argentina from Spain. 

Upon another corner of the Tlaza de Mayo is the 
cathedral, a large structure l)uilt in the Grecian style, 
with a ])ortico in front supported 1)}' twelve Corinthian 
columns. It will liold from eight to ten thousand people. 



76 Siglit-Sceing hi South America 

and among the cathedrals of the world is said to rank in 
size next to Notre Dame in Paris. It was founded in 
1580, hut rebuilt in the last century. The interior is 
not very imposing, but the cathedral is interesting because 
here is the tomb of General San Martin, the George 
Washington of Argentina. The cathedral is also the 
principal State church of Argentina. The Roman Cath- 
olic Church is the official church of all the South Ameri- 
can republics, except Brazil. The President of Argen- 
tina must be a member of the Catholic Church. 

The Avenida de Mayo reminds one of a Parisian bou- 
levard. There are the trees, the boulevard clusters of 
lights, the numerous wide open cafes with their excellent 
orchestras, the broad sidewalks, the tables and chairs on 
the sidewalks, and the constant throng of promenaders. 
These arc mostly mustached men, women and smooth- 
faced men being conspicuously absent. Spain was long 
a neighbor of the Orient and the Oriental customs of 
woman's seclusion half obtain still in Spanish countries. 

The best known building upon the Avenida is that of 
La Prensa, The Press, which cost three million dollars, 
and is the most sumptuous newspaper building in the 
world. It contains palatially appointed suites for the 
entertainment of distinguished visitors in the city, beauti- 
ful concert and lecture halls, fine libraries, and free dis- 
pensaries of medicine and law for the carrying on of its 
extensive welfare work. 

Jose C. Paz, who died in Paris a few weeks after we 
visited the plant, founded the paper about forty years ago. 
It now is owned and managed by his son. It is the most 
influential newspaper in South America, and claims to 



Buenos Aires 



// 



print daily more foreign news than any other paper in 
the world. \"erv little news from the United States is 




lliir Loavts of lJiL-;i 



included, although the copy is written on American tyjic- 
writers, the paper is printed on American ])resses, and its 
receipts are counted on American ca>h i"egisters. 



Buenos Aires 79 

On the Avenida an American article that is something 
of a novelty still, but that is growing greatly in favor 
among the Portenos, as the residents of Buenos Aires 
call themselves, is the graphophone. Its strident tones 
can be heard in all parts of the city, and before one is 
alwa3's an intently listening crowd. The most conspicu- 
ous stores along the Avenida are the graphophone stores, 
filled with gaudily painted machines. Buenos Aires has 
not yet reached the victrola age. 

Along the Avenida are a number of excellent hotels. 
The Majestic is patronized by wealthy Argentinians, is 
beautifully furnished, and has a magnificent roof garden 
with a fine view in all directions. Our party was enter- 
tained at the Cecil, which is a first-class family hotel, 
and at the Paris, which has the largest Parisian-like open 
air cafe in the city. The menu is very good. The hotel 
prices are higher than in Europe, and about the same as 
in the more expensive New York hotels. The a la carte 
prices in the cafe are possibly a little higher. At one 
hotel cigar-stand the price of the cheapest cigar was one 
peso, or about forty-three cents. There were at all cigar 
stands many more expensive ones. The wealthy Argen- 
tinians spend money lavishly for eating and smoking. 
Cigarettes are used, however, more than cigars. Off of 
the Avenida are several fine hotels, like the Plaza and the 
Phoenix, but the Avenida hotels are more in the center of 
afifairs. 

At the end of the Avenida is the new Congresso Build- 
ing. The imposing structure contains the halls of the 
Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, and the growing Con- 
gressional librarw Politics are usuall\- intense in Areen- 



Buenos Aires 81 

tina, and from the comfortable public galleries in these 
congressional halls one can hear exciting debates. 

A few blocks to- the north of the Avenida is the new 
and very massive building for the law courts, and across 
the Plaza the Colon Theater. 

The new Colon Theater is the municipal theater of 
Buenos Aires, and is probably the finest in the New 
World. It occupies about a block, is of an imposing style 
of architecture, and has a grand staircase and foyer after 
the style of the Paris Opera House. The theater proper 
seats thirty-six hundred people, has six tiers of boxes, 
and seemed to me to surpass any in the world. The 
best operatic companies of Europe play here every winter. 
The old opera house is large and attractive. The music 
halls are cheap imitations of the Parisian ones and the 
moving picture theaters are only fairly good. 

There are several museums of interest to the student 
of early Argentinian history. The Museo Historico 
occupies a large old Spanish colonial home with a patio 
in the center of a style that is disappearing rapidly. The 
most interesting room is that containing the furniture of 
the room in which General San Martin died in Boulogne 
in France. 

The jNIuseo j\litre in Calle San ^lartin is in the home 
of President Alitre, and the house is kept as it was when 
he died. The museum contains a valuable collection of 
early books and documents, including the first book pub- 
lished in South America. It is a book for the instruction 
of the Indians in the Christian and Catholic doctrines, 
and bears the date of 1384. Only two copies of this 
book arc known to liavc survived, while no copv exists 



Buenos Aires 83 

of the first book published in any of the Americas which 
was printed in ]\Iexico in 1535. 

The patios and barred windows of these old Spanish 
houses are lacking in the modern homes. 

Among- the unusual structures in the city is one known 
as the Aguas Corrientes, which looks like a magnificent 
palace or government building. It is simply a facing of 
glazed tiles and stones with mock windows and doors, 
enclosing filtration tanks for purifying the water of the 
city. It was built at a cost of over a million dollars, to 
help beautify the city, because the water reservoir was 
unsightly. 

Across the street from the xAguas Corrientes, and as im- 
posing, but of a more solid style of architecture, is the 
Medical College of the University of Huenos Aires. It 
is a ver}- excellent college and is the largest department 
of the university. The buildings of the great univer- 
sity are not gathered on a campus, but are scattered 
throughout the city. 

Out beyond the Congresso lUiilding, extending to Pal- 
ermo Park, is a district of palatial homes that would 
arouse admiration anywhere. Almost every one bears 
on its front the name-plate of its architect. Pjuenos 
Aires encourages the beautifying of the city In- giving 
annually a i)rize to the architect erecting the most beauti- 
ful structure, and b}' exempting the building from the 
payment of taxes for a nu.mber of years. The result is 
that in this city, that has more millionaires than any oilier 
city of ecjual size in the world, there is an unusual num- 
ber ol liandsome residences. 



84 Siglit-Seciiig in South America 

Near to the entrance of Palermo Park and in harmony 
with the fine residential section in which it is located, is 
Ricoleta Cemetery, far surpassing the Campo Santo of 
Genoa. It is a veritable city of the dead. It has paved 
streets and narrow sidewalks closely lined with costly 
marble mansions, in which repose the city's wealthy and 
distinguished dead. These little homes are built of the 
finest Italian marble, are decorated with sculpture and 
statuary, and contain mostly a small chapel with an altar 
and a few chairs on the ground floor. A marble stair- 
way descends into a basement or vault, around which, 
on marble shelves, are placed the heavy and highly orna- 
mented coffins containing the dead. Most of these base- 
ments have open windows into which one can look and 
see the coffins. The tops of many of the coffins con- 
tain a large piece of glass so that the face of the corpse 
can be viewed. 

Ricoleta Cemetery is about thirteen acres in size, and 
its avenues are built up solidly with these mausoleums. 
Out beyond Palermo Park is Chacharita Cemetery, 
which covers about two hundred acres, and in which 
both vaults and graves are used. 

Palermo Park is of the style of Central Park, New 
York, and is large and beautiful. Through it, about five 
o'clock every afternoon, is a promenade of fashionable 
equipages when one can see fine horses, beautiful women, 
and brilliant costumes. The horse in this great horse- 
raising country holds its own in stylish turn-outs against 
the automobile. 

On Sunday afternoon there is an added crowd of all 
kinds of vehicles on their way to the races at the Hippo- 



Buenos Aires 85 

dromo, just beyond the park. The greatest race tracks of 
Argentina are here, while the stakes are the highest, and 
the betting is the .largest. There are three tracks, one 
within the other, and all are quite wide. The winner of 
one of the principal races, the afternoon that many of our 
party attended, was an American horse named Chicago, 
owned bv the President of the Argentina Senate. 







HSRsmsmKn 






111/ II. n. .Iuln,...n 

"Cliicagij" Winning at lliijpodronio 

The Spaniard is a born gambler, and the buying of lot- 
tery tickets, whicli are sold by boys and women on the 
streets everywhere, and the betting on horse races, are 
favorite pastimes. There are gambling booths at the 
Hippodromo, and over their counters, in a single year, 
more than twenty-five million dollars in bets changed 
hands. Out of the stakes one-tenth is taken for charitv, 
another tenth is retained bv the |()cke\- Club that owns 



86 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



the Hippodromo, and the balance goes to the winner. It 
is said that the many excellent charitable institutions of 
Buenos Aires could not be maintained if it were not for 
their receipts from lotteries and betting booths. 

The Jockey Club is exclusively Argentinian and has 
an initiation fee of four thousand dollars and annual 
dues of fifteen hundred dollars. These, with the gate 
and betting receipts from the Hippodromo, make it prob- 




Posing for a Photograph 

ably the richest club in the world. It owns a very 
palatial Club House on Calle Florida to which our party 
were extended the courtesies. 

That portion of Palermo Park towards the La Plata 
is a great people's playgroimd, where, on Sunday after- 
noons, we saw neighborhood and family parties playing 
drop-the-handkerchief and other familiar games, and 



Buenos Aires 87 

catching fish in the httle intersecting streams and frying 
them over fires of sticks, which reminded us of our 
picnics back home.. It is a sensible people's park. 

Near Palermo I'ark are the Zoological and Botanical 
Gardens, both of which are well worth visiting. The 
collection of the rarer South American animals is large. 
Among these are the sloth that clings to the branches of 
trees, the royal penguins and the Brazilian harpy. It is' 
claimed that these are the only royal penguins in any 
zoological garden, because it is difficult for them to live 
in the temperate zone. Two years were spent in bring- 
ing them from their antarctic home in order to acclimate 
them to the change of temperature. The harpy is rarely 
found in captivity. 

The Botanical Gardens are separated by a wide street 
from the Zoological Gardens, which are very methodically 
and artistically laid oft". 

Among the most interesting sections of Buenos Aires 
are the new suburbs occu])ied by the homes of the work- 
ing classes. The houses are one story high, and are built 
of soft brick, which is ])]astered and colored a bright white. 
Upon these white walls are painted brilliant and almost 
gaudy marine and landscape views. These open-air 
mural decorations and the forest of our .\merican wind- 
nn'lls i)umping water for the houses make this rc-gion 
uni(|ue. 

In this and in all ]iarts of Buenos Aires the ]K()])le 
seem to be l)us^■, hap])\-, and i',V"os])erous. l.oafers and 
beggars are lacking. W'c were in Buenos .Aires during 
the Alardi Gras Carnival week, and the ])eoplc aiii)eared 
to be too rushed with work to stop and ])lay. In fact, 



88 Sight-Sceing in South America 

the city gave the impression of being half apologetic for 
having a carnival. The processions and celebrations were 
banished from the main part of the city to Belgrano and 
other suburbs. Children were almost the only ones wear- 
ing masques on the streets. In the evenings and on 
Sunday afternoon there was some squirting of perfume 
from bombas or tin foil bottles and considerable throw- 
ing of serpentina from carriages, but there were no great 
crowds or any excessive hilarity. 

I attended one of the carnival balls in the Opera House, 
paying three dollars for a ticket. It began about mid- 
night and lasted till daylight. There were probably 
a hundred ladies in beautiful and striking masquerade 
costumes, and a larger .number in the boxes, in elegant 
low-necked evening gowns, but without any masques. No 
men were in costume. The orchestra and stage were 
converted into a dancing floor. y\ round the sides waltzed 
very slowly probably three or four hundred couples. In 
the center stood, gazing at the dancers, some five hundred 
youths in street and evening costumes, wearing their hats 
and smoking cigarettes. The whole function seemed to 
be a tame excuse for a gay carnival ball, yet this was 
typical of all. 

One of the most persistent impressions made upon me 
was that Buenos Aires for an American is an out-of-the- 
way place. Americans are scarce, the American colony 
numbering onl}^ three or four hundred, while all the 
Em/opean colonies are ver}^ large. 

vCommercially, we have no ships or banks, and few 
importing houses. Practically no American ship ever 
enters this port, although our rapidly increasing commerce 



Buenos Aires 89 

with Argentina is e.xceeded only by that of Great Britain 
and Germany. All the commercial nations of Europe 
have here many great banks, but there is no American 
bank, although one is being promoted. Many of our 
manufactured articles are sold by European importing 
houses. Our money investments are small, amounting 
to about fifty millions, against England's one billion five 
hundred millions. England has placed seven hundred 
millions in Argentinian railways, largely owning them. 
Trade is said to follow the loan, so England naturally 
has the greatest trade. 

Commercially, too. New York is from one to two 
weeks more distant than Europe from Buenos Aires. T 
saw in the mail closing notices for the following twenty 
days, ships scheduled almost daily for Europe, and only 
one for New York, and that a week later. 

The time for mail was from nineteen to twenty days 
for Europe and twenty-seven days to New York. JMost 
Americans and Argentinians, if they wish to go to New 
York, sail by way of Europe, as the ships to Europe are 
faster and more luxurious. 

The few American news items in the papers scattered 
among the columns of European cablegrams also suggest 
the native appreciation of our relative unimportance. 

Among American religious institutions in Buenos Aires 
are the Y. M. C. A., which has fine new quarters near the 
Plaza de Mayo, and the churches of various American 
missions. The so-called American church is the Metho- 
dist Church on Calle Cangallo, of which the Rev. W. P. 
^McLaughlin, of Ohio, has been pastor for over twenty 
vears. It is attended bv most of the American colonv. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Environs of Buenos Aires. 
La Plata — El Tigrc — Pereyra Estancia. 

WHEN Buenos Aires was made the federal capital, 
the citizens of the province of that name showed 
their indignation by creating a rival city- La 
Plata, this new provincial capital, laid out in 1882, is a 
city made to order and designed for its purpose. All it 
lacks is people. Its magnificence and size are out of all 
proportion to its population. 

An hour's ride across a fascinating country and a fare 
of less than two cents a mile from Ijuenos Aires should 
make it some day a popular resort. On the way thistles 
grow in everv uncultivated field. Corn and alfalfa are 
raised in abundance. Ostriches roam in every open 
space. The commodious and beautiful station is one 
of the sights of the city. The change from the narrow 
streets of Buenos Aires to a city of wide streets, few 
vehicles and people, was a great surprise. 

Buenos Aires is the richest province of a rich repub- 
lic. Assisted by the federal government, this province 
spared no expense to make La Plata, its capital, a model 
city. Its streets are well paved, shaded, and lighted. 
Llandsome, well-planned public buildings are scattered 
throughout the city. Each department of government 
is located in a separate block. All plans and arrange- 
ments were original. It was to be unlike any other city. 



Environs of Buenos .iircs 91 

Palatial building's of massive proportions were erected. 
It was purposed that this city should hold half a million 
people. The population is less than 40,000. 

A tram system with reasonably good service enabled 
us to see the city to advantage. A beautiful government 
building, facing a semi-tropical plaza, first attracted our 
attention. 

The large Catholic church is unfinished. \o more de- 
pressing sight than that of a half-finished church of mas- 
sive proportions can be imagined. Situated in the midst 
of the city, it is, to-day, a scene of desolation. When 
the financial crash came, the work was discontinued. 
Now grass grows between its fallen rocks and native birds 
have made their home in its corners and crevices. 

No resident Protestant minister serves the English- 
speaking people of this city. Twice a month services 
are held by one who comes from Buenos Aires. For 
these services, which are poorly attended, a building is 
rented from some Spanish speaking Protestants. 

On the outskirts of the city is a large public park and 
pleasure garden with artificial grottoes, lakes, and water- 
falls. Near by is one of the prettiest avenues of trees 
in Argentina. More mounted policemen were riding 
back and forth than there were ]5eople on its sidewalks. 
Only one carriage passed us during the hour and a half 
that we were there. In the midst of these trees is a fine 
zoological garden with high iron fence and gates. It is 
not open to the public luitil two o'clock in the afternoon. 

Picturesquely located in a cluni]) of tall eucalyptus trees 
is the famous La Plata Museum. This im])osing build- 
ing is used ])rinciiKdly for a ])alcontological exhibit. It 



92 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



was founded by Doctor Francisco P. Moreno, chief of 
the surveying commission connected with the question of 
the Chile and Argentina hmits. Three of its fifteen 
rooms are used for natural history exhibits of the present 
day. Its fossils are all well classified. Early Indian 
civilizations, especially of the Incas and the Araucanians, 
are represented with a large display of mummies, uten- 





£y I. C. Muure 

El Tigre 

sils, art, craft, and many other things that enable one to 
study here the progress of civilization before the coming 
of the Spanish. This museum is closed until one o'clock. 
One day of our stop at Buenos Aires was given to a 
side excursion to a well-known resort on the Tigre River. 
VVe left the Paris Hotel by carriage for Retiro Station. 
Here we took an early morning train, which in forty-five 
minutes brought us to Tigre Station. 



Environs of Buenos Aires 93 

At El Tigre we boarded yachts for a long ride up the 
river. This winding stream runs into the Parana. We 
went a short distance beyond the juncture of these two 
rivers, a distance of about twenty miles from El Tigre 
Station, to Recreo Cruz Colorado, one of the pleasure 
grounds frequented by the citizens of Buenos Aires. 
Here we enjoyed a delicious lunch under a huge grape 
arbor. Earther on the Parana and the Paraguay form 
the Rio de la Plata. Low lands in the vicinity of the 
Tigre, with channels and canals intersecting each other, 
form a network of waterways like an extensive Venice. 
Winding in and out, at places hardly discernible for the 
low-lying willows, boats of varied sizes come and go, 
one scarcely sees where. Without an experienced boat- 
man one might travel in this labyrinth of channels indef- 
initely without reaching his destination. On one of the 
l^rettiest streams is located the Tigre Plotel. The terrace 
by the water's edge is supplied with tables and chairs for 
out-of-door refreshments. Here, on Sundays and holi- 
days, people come in great numbers. 

Most interesting of all side excursions from Buenos 
Aires was the one to the estancia of the Pereyra estate. 
Senor Leonardo Pereyra was then in Paris. Only a 
cou]:)le of months a year he spends here. Many estancia 
buildings are crude affairs, but these are noted exce])- 
tions. They are new and well equipped with all the 
latest improvements. 

One of the two general managers accomjianied us over 
this large estate of thirt_\- thousand acres. This is the 
smallest of eleven owned 1)\ the same family. The\- are 







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96 Sight-Seeing in South America 

scattered over different parts of Argentina. Here he 
breeds his stock for the others. 

We were taken through the owner's private residence, 
which contains many heirlooms of the family. The 
estate is eighty years old. High trees and well planned 
and developed gardens show that it has been a long time 
under cultivation. The land with improvements is worth, 
on an average, two hundred dollars an acre. 

Four hundred residents constitute the population of the 
cstancia. A school is maintained for the children and a 
chapel for the use of the families. Sixt}^ gardeners keep 
the eucalyptus drives and gardens in excellent condition. 
The eucalyptus trees are all imported from Australia, 
the original source of the world's supply. Five hundred 
fallow deer, introduced from England, roam at liberty. 
The gauchos, or cowboys, who receive $20.00 per month 
and board, gave us an exhibition in lassoing horses and 
in "broncho busting." The latter was not a success, as 
the horse made its escape when the cowboy was going 
to mount. 

The South American saddle is a clumsy affair. Over 
a sheep skin a crude leather saddle was thrown. It has 
no horn and the lariat is tied to a ring in the back of the 
saddle. We did not see the American cowboy saddle in 
all South America. When they were introduced into 
Mexico their superiority was appreciated at once and 
they are used there extensively. 

On the estancia were about 1,500 horses and 7,000 
heads of cattle. Some unbroken four-year-old horses 
were just sold to the Italian Government to be used in 
Tripoli, at $100 each. 



Environs of Buenos Aires 



97 



The cattle were prize stock and were being put into 
condition for the fairs. The registered number was 
marked on the horn. A pedigreed Durham was exhibited 
which is the champion cow of Argentina and weighs 1,800 
pounds. Good ordinary cows sold in the market for $55 
each. One Durliam bull, two and one-half years old. 




weighed 2,200 pounds. Some of these bulls arc held at 
$8,000. Every morning these animals arc bathed with 
soap and brush and when the flies are bad they arc pro- 
tected. They are kept in clean stables up to their knees 
in arfalla and are fed on oats and linseed oil. 



98 



Sights ceing in South America 



Our most pleasant experience was the barbecue at 
noon. Native dishes were prepared by native cooks in 
native stvle. All will remember the feast. 




Roasting Sheep for the Barbecue 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Pampas and Mendoza 

ON OUR transcontinental journey we had a special 
electric-lighted train of state-room dormitorios or 
sleepers from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. Large 
dining-room and kitchen cars were attached to the train 
and excellent meals were served. 

We crossed during the latter part of February, their 
xAugust, and saw the country at its best. Over these 
broad, level plains, almost destitute of trees, there was 
mile after mile of alfalfa land. The last crop of alfalfa 
was being stacked and bailed hay was being shipped. 
This country is so level that the road is as straight as an 
air line for two hundred miles. Innumerable cattle were 
grazing everywhere. 

First we crossed the campo, the cultivated land. This 
land is very valuable, that on the outskirts of the prov- 
ince being worth one hundred and eighty dollars an acre. 

Beyond the campo is the pampas, which corresponds 
to our range. No buildings w^ere visible save here and 
there a few adobe huts. The ])am])as furnish good feed. 
We passed many flocks of sheep, some ostriches, ducks, 
and other water fowl. As neither coal nor wood is 
available, fuel is very expensive. Charcoal from the 
forests in the north is the only source of su])])l\-. At 
ever}- station where we sto])ped I noticed that the old 
Morse system of telegra])h\' is still in use. Sound teleg- 
ra])h\' has not }et been introduced. 



TJic Pampas and Mciido.::a 



101 



Unballasted roads at first made riding quite ruugh, but 
as we approached La Paz, traveling became more com- 
fortable. Rocks for ballasting had been brought down 
irom the Cordilleras. During a stay of nearly an hour 
at La Paz a few of us visited an adobe hut where the 
people were passing around mate to their friends who 
had just arrived. As an act of courtesy and hospitality 
they passed the cup to us. 




This custom prevails in most of the rural districts of 
South America and in many of the cities. The verba 
mate is i)ut into a gourd cup known as the mate cup. 
Hot water is poured upon it until it infuses. Then the 
tea is drawn through a metal tube having a strainer at 
one end. This tube is called a bamljillo. The concoc- 
tion is harmless and \-er\- nutriti(»u>, l)ut the natives 



102 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



indulge in it to excess. Hospitality is always displayed 
by passing the mate cup to strangers. It is not only a 
breach of etiquette, but a gross insult to wipe the end of 
the bambillo before putting it into one's own mouth. 
Whether a sweet young senorita or an old senor 
gaucho presents it, one must receive it graciously and 
draw the contents of the cup through the tube as though 
it were thoroughly enjoyed. 




Hi/ .)//.v,- .1. /•:, / 



Open Air Oven and Adobe House 



In front of the hut stood a six-year-old saddle horse 
of which I made use by riding it up and down the track. 
It was well broken and had an easy gait. The owner 
offered it for twenty-two dollars gold. 

After leaving La Paz the snow-capped Cordilleras 
loomed u]) like the Rockies on the Colorado plains. 
Where land had been cleared and cultivated, alfalfa fields 



The Pampas and Mcndoaa 



103 



and rows of cottonwood appeared. Brush resembling 
mesquite and sage brush covered the desert. As we 
neared Mendoza the land became green. The desert 
had been transformed. Irrigating ditches, issuing from 
the snows of the Andes, convev the w^ater down the 




Proud I'olicemen 



plams and spread it in man_\- directions until it covers the 
whole surface for many miles around. 

Happily, our train was late in reaching Mendoza. That 
necessitated our spending the day there. Xo delay could 
have been more satisfactorily j^rovided, for we found 
the citv well worth a visit. With an altitude fjf twcntv- 



104 Sight-Seeing in South America 

six hundred feet, Mendoza is noted for its delightful 
climate and pure water. 

No sooner had our train arrived than an Englishman 
stepped up to me and invited me to have breakfast with 
him. The offer accepted, we became friends. Craving 
an English associate and desiring to show true British 
hospitality, he became my host for the day. His only 
failing was his love for wine. At every stop we made, 
he drank one glass for himself and one for me. His 
twenty years' residence in this wine-producing country 
doubtless led to this habit. 

He hired a cab to show me first the sights of Men- 
doza. There are no trams. Twenty years ago animal 
traction was in use. but the cab drivers competed so 
closely that finally the trams went out of business. The 
cabman took the passenger to his own door as cheaply 
as the trams carried him to the street corner. Now an 
electric road is being constructed on the principal streets. 
Power is to be conveyed from the Alendoza River. First 
my friend, who proved to be one of the division engineers 
of the railroad, took me to the Mendoza English Club, of 
which he is a highly esteemed member. Here they bet 
on the races that are taking place at Buenos Aires. Fif- 
teen minutes after the races are won the results are 
announced at this club. 

We visited the ruins of the old earthquake devastations. 
Earthquakes have been so dreadful in their results that 
Mendoza does not allow the building of any two-story 
houses, except by special permission. Only a few have 
made the request. The last earthquake took place a year 
and a half ago. In 1861 the entire city was destroyed, 



Tlic Pampas and Mcudorja 



105 



the ruins of which may still be seen one mile from the 
center of town. Among" other ruins now standing is the 
San Francisco Church. 

Nothing grows in the vicinity of Mendoza without 
irrigation. Streams of water running through the city 
cool the atmosphere. Though picturesque in location, 
wide streets with low building's and trees cut down to 




JilJ ))'. .1. NlflsDV 



Earthquake Ruins in Old ^Mendoza 



make wa}- for municipal improvements, do not add to the 
beauty of the city. Its population of some seventy thou- 
sand is scattered over a wide territory. 

On each side of the street water is conveyed in ditches. 
The streets are thus ke])t clean and well watered. Each 
city of the world has its own s]irinkling device. Men- 
doza's is unicjue. Small boys, following an overseer, dip 
the water from these ditches and sprinkle it over the 



106 



SigJit-Seeing in South America 



dusty streets. This is done with large dippers attached 
to the end of a long pole. 

In the San A^artin Plaza an English engineer, Mollett. 
has placed an equestrian statue of General San Martin, 
pointing to the pass over the Andes, that is ec(ual to any 




By I. C. Moore 



Unique Street Sprinklers 



in South America. A tablet on the statue indicates that 
it was presented by the Spanish colony in Mendoza on 
the centennial of Argentina's independence. On this 
tablet Spain and Argentina are represented shaking hands. 
This plaza is the real center of things. It is well paved 



TJic Pampas ajid Mcndoza 



107 



and beaiitifnlly laid out. Here in the evening played the 
city brass band. 




General San Martin Pointing to the Path Across the Andes 

Surrounding the ])laza arc the Munici]ial Theater, the 
Spanish Bank, the new Church of San Francisco, the 
National Bank, and the Grand Hotel. 

At five o'clock my host took nic thirt}' miles by rail into 
one of the most productive valleys of the State — Lujan 



108 Siglit-Sceiiig in South America 

de Cuyo. It is seven hundred feet higher than Mendoza. 
At the station we took a three-horse coach for the Sports- 
man Hotel about six miles distant. Here is a popular 
summer resort with ideal out-of-door swimming pools, 
supplied with water run in from the Mendoza River and 
allowed to stand in a reservoir where it is heated by the 
sun. This is in the very center of the wine industry. 
Our road led us through beautiful vineyards which are 
being assiduously cuhivated. 

This entire country presents remarkable opportunities 
for the investment of capital. One-fourth of the wine 
consumed in Argentina is imported. None is exported, 
and yet they make as good wine as in any country. 

An Argentinian who, accompanied us is a banker in 
Mendoza. His income from his vineyard alone is a thou- 
sand dollars a month. Land values increase enormously 
when the land is irrigated and set out in vineyards. Land 
worth twenty-five dollars an acre increases to two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars as soon as water is available. 
When bearing grapes, the price is still doubled. Great 
irrigation schemes are pending. I met an English engi- 
neer here who is now putting in canals to irrigate thirty- 
five thousand acres. He is also figuring on a contract 
to develop a canal at San Rafael that will irrigate two 
hundred and fifty thousand acres. These enterprises are 
all being developed by the English. The wine industry 
of Mendoza district is growing by leaps and bounds. A 
high protective tarifif on imported wines makes the plant- 
ing of vineyards a very lucrative business. 

While education is not keeping pace with this remark- 
able growth, it has been greatly promoted by the good 



Tlic Pampas and Mcndoza 109 

work of American teachers. Sarmiento, one of Argen- 
tina's presidents, was her greatest advocate of education. 
Since his time, North American school mistresses have 
had prominent places in the normal schools of Argentina. 
I learned that those now located in the Mendoza district 
have been there for twenty-two vears. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Across the Andes 

THE completion of the transcontinental railway be-, 
tween Bnenos Aires and Valparaiso, in 1910, was 
the memorable event in the centennial year of inde- 
pendence of the two republics of Argentina and Chile. 
It made possible winter and summer travel between the 
two countries, reduced by two thousand miles the mail 
route between New York and Buenos Aires, and lessened 
by a week the time between England and Australia. 

This railway is 888 miles long, and the cost of a first- 
class ticket with sleeper from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso 
is $67.50. or almost eight cents per mile. Three is a 
charmed number in connection with this railroad. It is 
divided topographically into three sections, pampas, 
mountain, and valley; it is made up of three different 
roads under three separate managements, The Buenos 
Aires and Pacific, The Transandine, and The Chilean 
State ; it has three dift'erent gauges, broad, narrow, and 
standard ; it requires three changes of cars, at Mendoza, 
Las Cuevas, and Los Andes ; and it runs passenger trains 
only on three days of the week, Sundays, Tuesdays, and 
Thursdays. 

The transcontinental railway was planned by an 
American, and the last section through the tunnel on the 
"cumbre" was built under a contract with the Chilean 
Government bv the American firm of W R. Grace & 



Across the Andes 111 

Company. W. R. Grace was at one time mayor of New 
York City. 

William Wheelwright, of Massachusetts, first proposed 
a railway from Buenos Aires through Rosario to Val- 
paraiso, and built a part of it. Another American, Henry 
]\leiggs, constructed forty-two miles of the road between 
N'alparaiso and Santiago, when he became interested in 
Peruvian railways, building six there. 

The Clark Brothers, two young Americans, in 1869, 
connected Argentina and Chile by telegraph. As they 
strung their wires over the mountains, their thoughts 
ran forward to the building of a railway. In 1873 they 
surveyed for a railway and obtained concessions from 
both Chile and Argentina for its construction. Each 
country was to build to its boundary line. In 1883, 650 
miles of the road were completed from Buenos Aires to 
Alendoza. Chile built to Los Andes. Then the work 
lagged until 1903, when Chile guaranteed for twenty 
years five per cent, on seven millions of dollars for the 
construction of the remainder, and the contract was given 
to W. R. Grace & Company. The entire system was fin- 
ally completed in 1910, and each country formally cele- 
brated its opening upon the centennial day of its inde- 
pendence. 

For the trip over the mountain portion of the route, 
we left Mendoza at seven o'clock in the morning in a 
s])ecial train. The train first wound its way up through 
immense vine^'ards, heav}- with large bunches of grapes. 
Argentina ranks first among American countries in the 
production of wine. The industry is retarded onlx' l)v 
the excessive freight rates to Ikienos Aires. 



112 



SigJit-Seeiiig in South America 



Ahead of us, as we left Mendoza, were great, white- 
capped peaks, the height of which is reahzed best by re- 
membering that the snow hne in this part of the Andes 




By ]V. A. NeUvi, 



The Cog Rail 



is above fourteen thousand feet. The road chmbs up the 
gorge of the Mendoza River, and along the old Andean 



Across the Andes 113 

trail, over which for centuries the Indians had passed. 
As the steepness increases, the Abt system of cogs is 
nsed, by which tripHcate sets of engine teeth cHnch the 
rail in the center of the track. The road crosses gorges 
and ravines, passes through tunnels, clings to the side of 
precipices, and continuall}- zigzags higher, so that the 
length of the road is four times its air line. There is 
wildness, grandeur, and magnificence everywhere. The 
rocks here have something of the coloring of those of 
the Grand Canyon of the Arizona, although it is not so 
vivid. 

At Punta de Abacas can be seen to the left the volcano 
Tupungato, which has a height of about 22,000 feet. 
Father on to the left appears a group of towering- 
rocks to which the Spaniards have given the name of L.os 
Penitentes. The larger rocks suggest a cathedral, while 
the smaller ones look like penitents approaching the ca- 
thedral on their knees. Accordng to the local Spanish 
legend, these Penitentes were wicked men, who, repenting 
too late, were turned to stone on their wa\- to the cathe- 
dral on their knees. 

Soon after lunch we arrived at I'uente del Inca, or 
the Bridge of the Incas, a natural bridge about sixty-five 
feet high and one hundred and fifty feet long, made by 
the rushing Mendoza River cutting through the rocks. 
As the bridge and the surrounding country have a sandy 
gray color, the bridge does not stand out sharply in 
photographs. 

Down, and almost under the bridge, have been built 
some bathhouses, for here are three hot sulphur springs, 



Across the Andes 



115 



Venus, ]\Iercury, and Champagne. These medicinal 
baths are patronized for rheumatism and Hke diseases. 

A Httle beyond Puente del Inca all cameras were 
pointed to the right to catch a passing snap at the highest 




JiiU 11. J. .\. /■...„ 



Inca Lake 



mountain in the Americas, .Vconcagua, 23,910 feet high. 
It did n(jt look as commanding as some other i)eaks. 
Beyond Las Cuevas is the very clear and deej) inca Lake, 
willi a wild and l)leak, rockv setliniJ'. 



Across the Andes 117 

At Las Cnevas is the Argentinian mouth of the great 
tunnel through the backbone of the continent. This 
tunnel is about two miles long and two miles above sea 
level. It is 18 feet high, 16.4 feet wide, and is faced 
with two feet of Portland cement, because the rock 
through which it is cut becomes soft and crumbles when 
exposed to the air. 

From Las Cuevas the old Andean Trail winds on up 
over the mountain. It climbs 2,500 feet above the tun- 
nel. Before its completion, trains were met here by 
what was known as the "Combination Transport," which 
quickly carried passengers and baggage over the summit. 
The "Combination Transport" consisted of twenty 
coaches, ten baggage wagons, 150 men, and 500 horses 
and mules, that were maintained at a cost of over $40,000 
per month. 

By passing through the tunnel the passengers miss the 
discomfort of soroche, or mountain sickness, which was 
common to both animals and people, and the sight of "El 
Christo," or the Christ of the r\ndes, which man)' trav- 
elers claim is, on account of the lonely desolation amid 
which it stands, the most affecting and impressive statue 
in all the world. 

The history of this statue is worth recalling. In 1900, 
Argentina and Chile were on the verge of war over a 
boundary disi)Ute, involving about eighty thousand s(]uare 
miles, h^.ach was increasing its army, and each was hav- 
ing built in iuu-opc two battleships. A ])eace movement 
was started then l)y Bishop IJenavente, of Argentina, and 
Itisho]^ Jara, of Chile. b^ach went up and (lown liis 



118 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



country preaching peace and arbitration. As the result, 
the dispute was referred to the king of 8©rtug«i' for set- 




By H'imlnirg-A 



Christ in the Andes 

tlement and the feehng between the two countries be- 
came verv cordial. 



Across the Andes 119 

For a peace monument, Bishop Benavente suggested 
the erection of a statue on the Andes, and on the initiative 
of Senora de Costa, President of the Christian Mothers' 
Association of Buenos Aires, one of the largest women's 
organizations in the world, the women of Buenos x-Mres 
undertook the raising of funds for the statue. 

'i'iie designing of it was given to a young Argentinian 
sculptor, Mateo Alonso. AMien it was finished and ac- 
cepted, the statue was cast at the arsenal at Buenos Aires 
from old cannon taken from the ancient fortress outside 
of the city. 

In February, 1904, the statue was shipped b}' rail from 
Buenos Aires to Mendoza. Here it was placed on gun 
carriages, and by mules hauled up to the summit of 
the pass. A\dien the mules could not pull it, its escort 
of soldiers and sailors would take hold of the ropes and 
help to drag it up to the boundary line between the two 
republics. 

On ]\Iarch the thirteenth, 1904, surrounded by the dig- 
nitaries of both nations, it was dedicated to the world, 
fin the granite base are two bronze tablets, one given 
bv the Working Men's Union and the other by the \\'ork- 
ing Women's Union of Buenos Aires. On one arc the 
words, in Spanish, "Sooner shall these mountains crum- 
ble to dust than the Argentinians and the Chileans l)rcak 
the peace, which at the feet of Christ, the Redeemer, they 
have sworn to maintain." 

The statue faces the north, because of a dispute be- 
tween the Argentinians and Chileans which arose as to 
whether it should look east or west. 



120 Sight-Seeing in South America 

Since the completion of the tunnel, this Christ of the 
Andes is seen seldom, yet in its greater loneliness it holds 
even a more commanding place in the imaginations of 
men as the great peace monument of the world. 



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Cattle Train Crossing the Andes 

The descent on the Chilean side is very steep and 
rapid. The principal object of interest is Salto del Sol- 
dado, or the "Soldier's Leap." Here there is a very deep 
narrow gorge cut by the Aconcagua River. The legend 
is that a revolutionary patriot, carrying dispatches, pur- 
sued by the Spaniards, spurred his horse in a wild dash 



Across the Andes 121 

toward the gorge, and that the horse, with one tremen- 
dous leap cleared the gorge and landed the soldier safely 
on the other side. 

The distinctive characteristic of the Andes is their 
bleakness and desolation. There is hardly a living thing, 
either animal or vegetable, visible. The condor soars 
high above the Andean peaks, bnt it is rarely seen. There 
is no vegetation of any kind. The vista is always one of 
drab and gray rocks. The few adobe shelter huts along 
the old trail, which look like big ovens, add to the bar- 
renness of the scenery. The mountains are even a diffi- 
cult place in which to retain any marks of civilization. 
Every winter storms of snow and ice tear up and carry 
away a large part of the railway and the old trail. The 
long snow sheds form only a partial protection for the 
railroad. 

This great pass through the Andes is interesting also 
for its historic associations. Over this trail. General 
San Martin led his heroic volunteer army to free Chile. 
His successful feat has been compared favorably with 
that of Hannibal and of Napoleon, crossing the Alps. 



I 



CHAPTER X. 

Santiago 

NLAND cities in South America are few. Chile has 

one, however, of special interest and peculiar charm. 

This rapidly growing city of St. James, with already 
half a million people, is one of the oldest on the con- 
tinent. 

In the midst of a plain two thousand feet above sea 
level and one hundred miles from its nearest port, Val- 
paraiso, this historic city, is the tourist's delight. Nature 
has done much to make it attractive. Its climate is un- 
exce'led. In the summer cool nights are refreshing; in 
the winter an unclouded sky and adobe houses temper 
the cold. A fertile valley surrounds the city and snow- 
capped mountain peaks tower over it. 

Hotels at Santiago are fair. Our party stopped at the 
Hotel Oddo and the Grand Hotel, which are the best. 

No city can boast of a better system of parks. They 
are large enough to accommodate its inhabitants for a 
century to come. Quinta Normal and Parque Cousino 
are the largest ; Santa Lucia and Parque Forestal, the 
smallest. 

Chilean history centers in Santiago. Santiago's his- 
tory centers about Santa Lucia, where a bleak hill has 
been transformed into a fairyland of beauty. Here 
Valdivia, the Spanish conqueror, first built his fort, and 
about it, as a center, in 1541, planned the city. How 



Santiago 



123 



these isolated rocks came to be piled up here in a heap 
geologists have been unable to explain. There is a 
theory that they were deposited by a glacier. No rocks 
of a corresponding character are to be found anywhere 
in the vicinity. The hill towers above about one hundred 




■|'l! 



ila ]. 



and lif'.y feet as though erected for a garden and observ- 
at(jry from which to view the cit}-. These hanging 
gardens might well honor the ])resence of Nebuchad- 
nezzar and his ^Median <|ucen. Sixty years ago it was 
only a bare rock. McKenna. the mayor, conceived the 
idea of making of it a i)ark. 




/,'(/ 1// l/.l, ,1 )/.., ,w,„ 

Tlif Congressional Building 



Santiago 125 

In the Spanish days Protestants were brought to Santa 
Lucia and buried at night. When the park was laid out, 
Vicuna IMcKenna had their bodies removed to a corner 
in the Cathohc cemetery. A marble tablet to their 
memory is set in a brick column, which is surmounted by 
a female figure, with outstretched arm, in the act of 
dropping a fioral tribute. It is near the entrance oppo- 
site the hill restaurant, and to the left of the driveway as 
one ascends. The tablet reads, "To the memory of the 
exiles from heaven and earth who were buried on this 
site from 1820 to 1872." 

A glorious view burst upon us when we reached the 
top. A level valley rises in the distance to meet the 
gentle sloping foot-hills beyond. These lead to the 
snow-capped Andes. No smoke or fog interfered with 
our view, which was as picturesque as any state or city 
can boast. Santa T Aicia has an imposing entrance rising 
from wide steps and castle-like terraces. Palms, artistic 
gardens, and large, paved, open courts extend from the 
base to the highest point. 

Built on the solid rock of Santa Lucia is the world's 
most important seismographic station. It is in charge of 
Captain Reyes, who speaks English. Here are three 
needles, one of which registers local eartlK|uakes, one 
earthquakes as far distant as San Francisco, and a more 
delicate one that records any quaking on the whole 
earth. About four earthquakes are registered daily, 
and the superintendent claims that Chile is the most 
unstable counlry in tlie world, shaking more llian jajjan. 
Many of our ])arty were doubtful about the ca])tain's 
statement, until one afternoon they saw their chandeliers 



Santiago 127 

swingiiii?', and then heard the hotel timbers creakini^; 
There \ve;e only two gentle waves of the earth, but it 
made many sit up and take notice. 

(. )verk:>oking the city, on the highest surrounchng lull, 
St. Cristobal, wliich l)ek^ngs to the Dominicans, is the 
stalne of the X'irgin. With the pedestal it is se^-eiUy- 
two feet high. A California university has an observa- 
tory on this hilk Between this hiU and Santa Lucia is 
Parque Forestal. buih on ground reclaimed from the river 
bottom when the jMapocho was turned into the canal. 

In this Parque is located the new ]\Iuseo des Belles 
x\rtes, opened in 1910. Buenos Aires has a small gal- 
lery in an upper story on the Florida, but few people ever 
visit it. This one at Santiago is probably the largest and 
best in South America. Connected with it is a school 
of fine arts. 

In a large central court, as one enters, are the works 
of sculpture. Upon them a flood of light is thrown 
from a roof of glass. One representing \"oltaire and 
another a miser deserve special attention. The latter 
received honorable mention at the Pan-American Exposi- 
tion. The sculptress, who executed the best work in the 
court of sculpture, is now in Paris. She is a Chilean 
from Santiago. ller father is the Chilean ]\Iinister 
Pleni])Otentiar\' in (iermany. She did the best three 
works of statuary in the uuiseuni. 1. "lloratius in the 
attitude of giving directions for the execution of his son 
who had disol^eyed the unchangeable law." 2. ".\ina al 
Pann" — a voung lach' ])rei:)aring for the bath. 3. "Miliza" 
— without country and without God. the daughter of 
Bohemia sutlers when she sees the sufifering of the one 



Santiago 129 

she loves. The Mendicant in bronze is worthy of men- 
tion. It won the gold medal at the Paris Exposition and 
was executed in 1899 by Simon Gonzalez, a Chilean. 
Another good Chilean work in bronze is a drummer boy 
— "El Tambor," sitting on his drum. Blanco is the 
sculptor. 

Paintings and war relics are placed in rooms surround- 
ing the court. They occupy two stories. There are a 
few excellent copies of the masterpieces and some origi- 
nals. Room nine contains the best selection of these. 
I'here is a good Corot and some fine works by Chilean 
artists. "Una Matinee en un Cafe Conceirto de Paris" 
won the silver medal at the Pan-American Exposition. 
Of all South America, the Chileans lead in art, and give 
promise of greater development in that line. 

Military trophies of the Peruvian War of 1879 have 
recently been moved to the Museo des Belles Artes and 
are exhibited on the lower floor. The first room con- 
tains flags captured from Peru. Bullet holes are marked 
with stars sewed to the cloth. Parts of the old Esmer- 
alda are also on exhibition. 

Research in natural history is carried on at Quinta 
Normal where there is a good museum. Capuchins do 
some work in taxidermy and have also a small collection 
of natural history specimens in their monastery, but no 
scientific classification is attempted. Quinta Normal 
also contains a public amusement park, an extensive zo- 
ological garden, a botanical garden, and an experiment 
station. 

One of the most fascinating drives was through the 
Club Hippico. We were there out of season for the 



130 Sight-Seeing in South America 

races, which are held from August to December, on Sun- 
days and hohdays. Membership in this club costs over 
two thousand dollars. 

Adjoining Hippico is the Parcjue Cousino, an extensive 
pleasure park, much frequented by the masses. This 




Ky Miss JJvnilliij JJuchiralt 

Llamas in Cousino Park 

park was presented to the city by Senora Cousino, Chile's 
richest woman. ■Marrying the wealthiest man of Chile 
made her, at his death, the possessor of the combined 
greatest two fortunes. Her palacio, since her death, has 
belonged to the family. It was pointed out to us on the 
Calle Dieciocho. French architects and artists designed 
and beautified it. A high wall conceals much of its 
beauty from public gaze. Its interior is said to be 
extravagantl)^ furnished. 



Santiago 131 

In front of the main entrance to Cousino Park is a 
magnificent monument of Ercilla, a Spanish poet and 
soldier, who wrote of the war between the Spaniards and 
the Araucanians. It was presented by the Spanish col- 
ony to the Chilean people at the centenary of their inde- 
pendence. 

At the opposite end of the Cousino is the penitentiary, 
easily reached by tram. Eight hundred convicts are con- 
fined within its walls. All nationalities are represented 
but English and North American. \\ hen we boasted of 
that, we were reminded that there were only a handful 
of North Americans in Santiago, and many of them are 
missionaries. The only woman in the prison is but 
twenty-two years of age. Usually women are sent to 
convents for correction. This one, however, was so 
unruly that she could not be managed in a convent. 
Contract labor is in use. The prisoners make furniture, 
shoes, brooms, and door and window sash. Part of the 
earnings go to the prisoners for the support of their 
families. While we were there fifty women were wait- 
ing outside to receive their share. Well-lighted cells are 
arranged around a circular court. Corporal i)unishmcnt 
is unknown. A school, a chapel, and a foot-ball ground 
])rovide instruction and entertainment for the prisoners. 
There are two penitentiaries in Chile. 

Three cemeteries have been set aside for Santiago's 
dead. Recoleta is the Catholic cemetery. Jeneral is 
the name given to the Westminster Abbey of Santiago. 
There is also a Protestant cemeter}-. 

The Recoleta is arranged somewhat like the Metaire 
Cemetery at Xew Orleans. Bodies are deposited in 



132 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



niches in the walls around a covered walk with a court 
in the center. 

In the Cemetery Jeneral, Chile's celebrites are buried. 
A high wall surrounds it and conceals it from the view 
of those who pass by. This wall is honeycombed with 
niches for coffins. An imposing gateway, surmounted by 




Jiy J. IJ. Pi 



]>urial in the Wall 



a sculptured group of Adam and Eve weeping over the 
death of Abel, forms the main entrance. 

Not far from this gateway in the center of a paved 
court, surrounded by circular vaults, twelve tiers high, 
is the tomb of O'Higgins. Artistically sculptured white 
marble forms the monument. On it are inscribed the 
battles in which he engaged and the positions that he 
held. One tomb, recalling a tragic disaster, is that con- 



Santiago 133 

taining two thousand victims of the great fire in the 
Jesuit Church of Santiago, in 1863. The Calle de les 
Presidentes contains the tombs of several of Chile's note- 
worthy presidents. Vicuna's family tomb is much vis- 
ited. A large bronze crucifix in this cemetery bears the 
following inscription : "Any person repeating the Creed 
before this crucifix will obtain eighty days' plenary indul- 
gence available for the souls of the dead." 

Curiosiiy led a few of us to visit the Matadero, the 
city's slaughter house. We were especially favored in 
having Dr. Arsenio Poupin, the chief inspector, accom- 
pany us. Here cows, pigs, sheep, and goats are brought 
for slaughter and sale. On one side the animals are 
driven into a corral. They are then caught and dragged 
by men to a large open square where they are killed in 
the crudest manner. Their bleating and crying have no 
effect upon their pursuers. After the animal is killed, 
the tube of a large foot bellows is inserted under the 
skin. Air is forced through it until the animal is almost 
twice its natural size. This makes easy the removal of 
the hide. No provision is made for saving the blood, 
which in our country is considered of great value. The 
entrails are cleaned and washed in running water. Those 
who slaughter and clean the animals are recompensed 
with ])arts of entrails according to the service they ren- 
der. Kidneys, hearts, and livers are legal tender in the 
Matadero. Men fairly reeking in blood crowd about the 
enclosure. 

Great precaution is taken that no diseased meat be 
put on the market. Everything is done where the public 
can see the entire process. Every animal nnist l)e in- 



134 Sight-Sccing in South America 

spected by the municipal inspector. Before his stamp 
is put on pork a part of every pig is examined under 
the microscope. About one in every thousand is found 
to have trichina. From this it may be seen that the 
municipahty does everything it can to secure the heahh 
of the people. Cows are examined for tuberculosis. 
Dr. Poupin makes a careful scientific examination of 
every animal that is killed. Every person pays the city 
about ten cents gold per two hundred pounds live weight 
for the privilege of using the Matadero. 

The slaughter house is also a market. In one corner 
of the great court cut meat is hung ready for sale. Be- 
tween this and the place of slaughtering are open restau- 
rants — a combination not temping to the appetite. Ar- 
rangements have been made by the city to construct, dur- 
ing the present year, a new Matadero to cost five hundred 
thousand dollars gold. 

We visited the slums near by. A single patio suffices 
for fifteen or twenty families, and often an entire family 
is crowded into one room. 

In Chile black is the prevailing color. ^Tany of the 
men wear black straw hats. Women usually wear the 
manto. a native costume. It is a black head shawl gotten 
from the Spanish from which it differs only in detail. 
The color is very unsuited to the warm climate, and in 
most cases is unbecoming. When in mourning the 
manto is worn over part of the face. Since, by order 
of the Archbishop, women are neither allowed to wear a 
hat in church, nor go with the head uncovered, the manto 
is almost a necessity. A notice prohibiting the wearing 
of hats is posted on every church door. 



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Oiilean Belles and Beauties Wearing the Chilean Mam. 



136 Sight-Seeing in South America 

Chilean beauties are famous. The women we saw in 
Santiago were more beautiful than any we had seen since 
leaving New York, Bluecherites, of course, excepted. 

A Capuchin Monastery on the Cathedral Calle is the 
home of about one hundred hospitable monks. An 
English-speaking Spanish brother, who had visited the 
States, showed us through the monastery and into the 
court, corridors, and vineyards. In the latter delicious 
grapes were well matured. The sweetest are known as 
"Dedo de dama," the finger of the woman. Large quan- 
tities of them are raised to supply wine for the mass. 

As we left the monastery, by way of the church, an 
old crippled man was hobbling up to an image in front 
of the church. A statue of the Virgin with a halo over 
her head, holding the infant Christ, looks down in bless- 
ing. The monument enclosed by an iron railing bears 
this inscription: "The Archbishop of Santiago concedes 
eighty days' indulgence to the faithful who offer one Ave 
Maria before this image." 

The center of interest is the Plaza de Independencia, 
or Plaza des Armes. On one side of it are the imposing 
Cathedral and the Palace of the Archbishop, occupying 
an entire block. The former was begun about 1750 
and has been recently remodeled. Brick facing and 
plaster, put over the decayed stone of the outer wall, 
gives to the church a modern appearance. An organ 
destined for Australia was on board a ship that was 
wrecked in the Straits of Magellan. It was saved from 
the wreck and purchased for this church, in which it has 
since stood. An image of San Francisco de Javier, lying 
upon his death-bed with his hands folded, tears on his 



Santiago 137 

cheeks, and eyes partly closed in death, has been placed 
at one of the side altars. This figure, carved from the 
trunk of a pear tree, was found in a Jesuit monastery In 
1766, when the order was expelled from Chile. 

To the right of the church, Recoleta Dominica, a new 
Call clic university, is being built. To the left is i 
convent for the padres. The church is very rich. There 
are beautiful marble columns, each one in three sections, 
carved doors, a white marble figure of a cherub holding 
a shell for the holy water, and a marble chancel screen. 
The whole effect, plain and solid, is very dififerent from 
most of the South American churches. 

Santa Domingo, near the center of the city, was built 
in ISOcS. Gaudy decorations, altars filled with fresh 
flowers, and much stucco detract from the beauty. A 
flower market in front of the church is always crowded. 

Near by is an old Spanish gate painted red. Antique 
stones, broken and worn, support the pillars which are 
covered over with advertisements of an Italian factory. 

To these points of interest we were accompanied by 
Dr. Lester, for thirty years a missionary in Santiago. 
Although supported by the Presbyterian Board, Dr. 
Lester is pastor of a Union Church. His is the oldest 
English-speaking church in Santiago. It is incorporated 
and independent. 

Another missionary who tendered his services was Dr. 
drowning. He has charge of the Presbyterian Boys' 
School, which corresponds to our high schc^ol. Half of 
the faculty of twenty-five are Americans. All modern 
languages are taught. The classics are omitted. Organ- 
ized thirty-five years ago, the school is, to-day, self-sup- 



138 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



porting. The property, valued at one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand dollars, belongs to the Board in 
New York. 

Fifteen nationalities are represented in the student 
body. The gymnasium, costing thirty-one thousand 
dollars gold, is an appropriation from the Kennedy fund. 
The school building is four stories high, including the 




-By I. C. Mo 



The 



Chile 



basement, and is all of brick. The girls' school is in 
charge of the Methodist church. 

Santiago's Medical School is one of the best in South 
America and is well equipped. 

Everywhere we were well received and there was no 
evidence of ill feeling toward Americans. At the con- 
clusion of an address delivered to an assembly of Chil- 
eans by one of our passengers, a man came up to extend 
"infinite thanks" in Spanish. The man arose and made a 



Santiago 



139 



few remarks which were interpreted by Dr. McLane. 
p[e said : "Many of our people view with alarm the com- 
ing of North Americans to Chile. We think they want to 
become our masters. All South America fears North 
American aggression. But 1 wish to say for this audi- 
ence that we extend to you a hearty welcome and appre- 
ciate wliat you have said about our nation and our flaj-." 




Tlie 'Porno 

La Provideucia is the name of a street and a section 
of the cit}-. We went there |)articularly to see one of the 
foimdling hospitals. A magnificent institution it is. 
( )\'er two thousand children are under its care. h'rom 
five to si.x children arc received here dailw .Man\^ of 



140 Sight-Seeing in South America 

them are taken secretly to a private home, number sixty- 
seven, on the Calle del Cerro. This is a small side street 
in the center of the city at the foot of Santa Lucia. The 
house is known as "La Casa del Torno." A torno is 
something that turns; hence, the name is applied to a 
cradle, resembling a barrel cut in two, and turning on a 
pivot. It is placed in a wall of a house and can be 
turned in or out at pleasure. Babies are put in the torno 
at night, and received into the room where they are cared 
for until the following day, when provision is made for 
them at the hospital. These tornos are not as common 
as formerly. This is the only one we saw at Santiago, 
and we were told by many that it did not exist. 

As w^e entered a car, a Bluecherite friend, mistaking 
the woman conductor for an ordinary passenger, stepped 
to the rear of the car, where a gaudily uniformed captain 
of the police was standing, and offered him the fare. 
His mistake was a source of much amusement to the 
policeman and passengers. 

Women conductors are quite numerous in Santiago. 
At the Plaza Arjentina, where the Alameda car turns, 
they change shifts. Long benches are arranged for those 
waiting to go on duty. Here men and women wait their 
turn together. Women sit on the curb or hang over the 
railing smoking cigarettes with their coworkers in an 
indifferent sort of way. Their only distinguishing uni- 
form is a black, shiny, sailor hat. 

On the double decked cars the upper deck is used for 
second-class passengers only. They ride for five cen- 
tavos, equal to one and a quarter cents gold. 



Santiago 141 

In some things, Chile leads the Latin American repub- 
lics. Neither the lottery nor bull fighting exists. It was 
also the first American country to abolish slavery. 

On the Calle Merced, in front of the Teatro Santiago, 
is a famous relic of old Spanish dominion. Its red color 




Ity II. II. .I,,h„^ 



'I'lie Woman C'oiuluctor 



has given it the name of the "Red House." According 
to legend, a nnirder was once committed within its walls. 
The owmer provided in his will that only so long as it 
was painted red could it remain in the hands of the 
family. It was further stipulated that if any other color 



142 



Sight-Sceing hi SoittJi America 



was ever applied the property should fall into the hands 
of the priests. It is the most conspicuous building in that 
locality and covers nearly half the block. Five large 
candlesticks on each side of the gateway project from the 
wall. In each is a large candle. Large wooden doors 




By Mi«K A. E. PattUun 
The Red House, Where the Declaration of Independence Was Signed 

at the entrance are of old style. They were intended for 
carriages and are no longer in use. Entrance is now 
through a small door made in one of the larger ones. 
Within this historic building, Chilean independence was 
signed, on the eighteenth day of September, 1810. 

Connected with this independence, no name is better 
known to the people of Chile than that of General 
O'Higgins. This son of an Irish peasant so proved his 
worth to Spain that he was appointed governor of Chile. 
When the time came to declare her independence, O'Hig- 



Saiitiogo 143 

gins espoused the cause and, assisted by San ^Martin. 
accomplished it. 

The Alameda was made a reality by General O'Hig- 
gins. who transformed the Mapocho River bed into a 
street. Streams of water still tlow through the avenue. 
With its shaded walks and drives, paved streets for car- 
riages, and double tracks for trams, this wide thorough- 
fare is the city's greatest monument. It is three miles 
long and in places three hundred feet wide. 

In the center of the street are statues of several note- 
worthy men who played prominent parts in Chile's early 
history. Among others are the statues of General Ber- 
nardo O'Higgins, Don Benjamin X'icuna AIcKenna, and 
General San Martin. These men did much to make the 
present city what it is. 

One of our pleasantest afternoons in Santiago was 
spent at the home of a Chilean, where we were enter- 
tained in real Chilean style. (Jur hostess owns the oldest 
cognac factory in Chile. Medals from Paris, London, 
and Belgium were exhibited. A meal of several courses 
was pre])ared. Among other things that were served 
was "alcallote," a dish made of sugar, almonds, and the 
"alcallote," a kind of fruit resembling a melon. "Al 
turron"" was also served. It is made from eggs, honey, 
and sugar. 

A new Steinwa}^ was played by our hostess, who 
proved herself to be a very accom])lishc(l nmsician. 1 ler 
slaughter, with a well-trained voice, sang in true Italian 
style. We had here a taste of Chilean hospitality which 
we were ver\- loalh to leave. 



144 Sight-Seeing in South America 

Among" Santiago buildings with historic associations is 
the house opposite to the Capuchin Monastery on Calle 
de la Bandera, now occupied by the Christian Brothers. 
In this lived, in about 1823, Monsignor Mastai Ferretti, 
when auditor of the nunciature at Santiago. Later he 
became Pope Pius IX. 

San Francisco Church on the Alameda is the oldest 
church in Santiago. Its cornerstone was laid in 1572, 
and it is the only structure dating back to the sixteenth 
century. Its enormous walls have withstood all the ter- 
rific earthquakes. In this church is preserved the wooden 
image of Our Lady, which was carried by Valdivia in 
his campaigns. 

The most famous man in Santiago is Jose Toribio 
Medina, who is possibly the greatest writer in South 
America. Fle is the best known bibliographer in the 
Western Hemisphere. He is the author of many 
scholarly books, and he has a large collection of Amer- 
ican books in his large library. His library and his 
printing establishment on which he has printed h's 
greatest works are in a part of his old colonial home on 
a quiet, retired street. In one room of his library he 
has ten thousand pamphlets and books that were printed 
in Mexico while it was still a Spanish province. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Valparaiso 

THE ride from Santiago to Valparaiso takes about 
four hours in an American train with PuHman 
chair cars. At the many small stations along the 
line, women were offering for sale, at a small price, fine 
peaches and nectarines, large white and purple grapes, 
and a particularly delicious white musk-melon of about 
the size of a water-melon. All of this Chilean fruit has 
an excellent flavor. 

Valparaiso is a city of nearly two hundred thousand 
inhabitants, and is the chief Pacific seaport of South 
America. It is built on an amphitheater of barren hills, 
and was named the A ale of Paradise not on account of 
the suggestive appearance of the region, but because the 
home-sick discoverer came from the little city of \'al- 
paraiso in Spain. 

The city consists of three sections, the lower crowded 
business part, through which wind Condell and Esmer- 
alda streets as the main thoroughfares, a higher portion 
reached by eleven elevators and incline railways, which 
is the best residence ]iortion, and still higher a dusty 
tin-town suburlj, where there are many goats, countless 
dirty children, nmnerous l)arking dogs, and shacks built 
of old tin roofs and del)ris. It is worth climbing one of 
these sandy hills, which are from a thousand to fifteen 
hundred feet high, to o])tain tlie panoramic \'iew of the 



146 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



city, the bay, and the ocean, and of the snow-capped 
Andes, inckiding Mount Aconcagua in the distance. 

The most attractive feature of the city to the traveler 
is its picturesqueness. The sharp turns in the steep 
streets, the flowery garden walls, the donkevs and horses 




By Miss Mary Morinon 



Mules with Wide Panniers 



with their wide panniers of raw hides, the pack trains of 
mules laden with all kinds of articles, trudging up the 
mountain roads, and their sleepy drivers wearing broad 
sombreros and heavy ponchos, or cape-like blankets, keep 
alert the interest of those carrying cameras. 



Valparaiso 



U7 



Among the places of especial interest is the Escnela 
Naval, or the Naval Academy of Chile. It is Annapolis 
on a small scale, having about two hundred pupils. The 
school is located on a high terrace, and looks down upon 
the hav in which are usually several Chilean men-of-war. 




By Ml, 



A. E. Pmtison 



A Gaucliu Wca 



a I'cncliL. 



On a neighboring- hill is the old Catholic cemetery in 
which are buried the American sailors that were killed 
in the fight in the harbor, on March 28, 1814, between 
the American frigate "Essex," under Captain David 
Porter, and the English ships "Phoebe" and "Cherub." 
The "Essex" had been damaging English commerce along 
the Pacific, when it was blockaded in the harbcM- of \'al- 
paraiso by tlie more powerful I'^ngiish boats, and. in 
disregard of the laws of neutrality, was attacked. l-'rom 
the bluffs the whole population of \'alparaiso watched 
for two hours the heroic defense by the Americans, 



148 



Sights ceing in South America 



against the guns of longer range of the EngHsh. When 
ihe decks were running with blood and the "Essex" was 
in flames, Captain P'orter surrendered. The American 




Hii Mrs. Jhiiiii Ciirhin 



The Tomb of tlie j\ii.ei"ican Sailors 



loss was fifty-eight killed, sixty-six wounded, and thirty- 
one missing. Most of the missing were drowned trying 
to swim ashore from the "Essex." The English loss was 
five killed and eleven wounded. This was the onlv 



Valparaiso 



149 



x\merican defeat in the four great naval battles between 
the English and Americans in 1814. A modest tomb 
marks the quiet resting place of these heroic American 
sailors. 

Admiral David G. h^arragut. the naval hero of our 
Civil War, was a midshipman thirteen years of age on 




An Earth(|uakc ]"reak 



the "Essex," and was among those taken prisoner and 
paroled b}- the English. 

In the cemcterx' are also some twisted and broken 
UKjnuments caused I)}- the great earthquake of .\ugust 
16, 1906, when a thousand people were killed and a 



150 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



hundred million dollars worth of property destroyed. 
This was about four months after the San Francisco 
earthquake. Valparaiso was reduced to a mass of 
ruins, but due to government help and the people's enter- 




Jiy I. C. Moore 



Double-Deck Street Cars 



prise few evidences are seen in the city of the widespread 
destruction. 

Among the striking features of the business portion 
of the city are the two-story electric cars with women 
conductors. These conductresses represent the survival 



Valparaiso 151 

of the homeliest. The pretty ones quickly marry. They 
are quiet, obliging, and very satisfactory. They were 
employed first during the Chilean-Peruvian War on ac- 
count of the scarcity of men, and were liked so well that 
they have been retained. 

In broad Brazil Avenue are statues of Lord Cochrane, 
of the American, William Wheelwright, of Massachu- 
setts, the father of steam navigation upon the Pacific, 
and a triumphal arch of Italian marble, surmounted by 
a British lion, and presented by the British colony at the 
centennial celebration of Chilean independence. The 
Chileans are highly complimented when called the Eng- 
lish of South America. 

In the Plaza, at the landing stage, is a statue of Artura 
Prat, Captain of the Esmeralda, and opposite is the gov- 
ernor's modest palace, and the offices of the Navy Depart- 
ment. Here I met the very polite private secretary to 
the admiral general, who presented me at the Naval 
Club, which has a large club house near the harbor. 
Paintings of Chilean naval engagements adorn the walls 
and models of Chilean men-of-war are exhibited in glass 
cases. 

The prices of articles in \"alparaiso are lower than 
those on the east coast. This may be due to the depreci- 
ated dirty rag-money that is used. The paper currency 
is so soiled and torn that oftentimes I was almost afraid 
to touch it. There is no national pride in keeping the 
money fresli and clean. There is also little national 
patriotism shcnvn by the general display of flags. In the 
South American countries tliat I visited I bought small 
flags, and cverNwlKTc the}' were diflncult to find. 



152 Sight-Sceing in South America 

Cut flowers, too, are seldom ofi^ered for sale because 
they are so abundant that they have little commercial 
value. The flower stores have bead and wire flower 
pieces, which are used at funerals and on graves, and 
when I inquired at one of these stores where I could buy 
some natural flowers, the proprietor told me that he 
knew of no place, with a look of wonderment as to why 
a person should exchange good money for quickly- fading 
flowers. 

One of the specialties of A^alparaiso is the lobster that 
comes from the island of Juan Fernandez, or Robinson 
Crusoe Island, about four hundred miles ofi^ the coast. 
Here, several centuries ago, Alexander Selkirk was ma- 
rooned for over four years. Finding a lone Indian, he 
educated him and named him Friday. When Selkirk was 
rescued and taken back to London, he told his experiences 
to Daniel DeFoe, which caused him to write Robinson 
Crusoe. 

Now the island is visited b}' fishing boats for fish and 
lobsters. These lobsters are very large and by many are 
regarded as the best in the world. An Englishman in 
A'alparaiso insisted upon my buying some of this greatest 
delicacy that Chile can offer, and took me to a large base- 
ment lobster store, where the floor was covered with 
these crawling crustaceans. I bought two for about a 
dollar apiece and took them out to the ship's steward, who 
served them the next day at lunch to our table. They 
covered a big platter, and their meat was ver}^ sweet, 
solid, and delicious. 

Adjoining Valparaiso is Vina del Mar, the fashionable 
seaside resort on the South Pacific coast. It is the 



154 Sight-Seeing in South America 

summer capital of Chile. Here are a number of fine 
hotels, beautiful villas, and a race track that draws large 
crowds on Sundays. The South American summer re- 
sorts, however, seem dull and quiet in comparison with 
our American ones. 

At Valparaiso we met the Bluecher, which had gone 
around through Beagle Channel and the Straits of Magel- 
lan. After our journe}^ across the continent, we wel- 
comed her like an old friend. She anchored out in the 
bay, and the trips to and from the shore, in her tenders, 
were interesting on account of the variety of ships among 
which we passed. 

At night the harbor was like a dream of fairyland. 
Above shone the full moon and the Southern Cross. 
The encircling hills and shore sparkled with a myriad 
of lights. The water gleamed and glistened with the 
rocking, dancing, darting lights on ships and boats. Val- 
paraiso appropriately might have been named the Bay 
of Paradise. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Through the Straits of Magellan 

^"1~*HE voyage from Valparaiso around South America 
I through the Straits of Magellan to jNIontevideo is 
almost as long as the one from New York to Liver- 
pool. The view of the scenic straits with their fjords 
and glaciers and a stop at Punta Arenas, the most south- 
ern eity of the world, break the trip. 

We sailed out of the almost open harbor of Valparaiso 
about sunset on a Tuesday evening, escorted for some 
distance by whistling tugs and motor-boats, and turned 
southward, to follow the long Chilean coast. A'ali:)araiso 
is about in the center of the elongated Republic of Chile, 
which skirts the Pacific for almost three thousand miles 
with an average dej)th between the ocean and the top of 
the Andes, its eastern boundary, of less than ninety miles. 
If Chile were placed on the map of Xorth America it 
would reach from Panama to Hudson Ray, or from New 
York to Salt Lake. All this Chilean coast is east of 
New York City. 

Early Saturday mornin;^' the Pluecher steamed into the 
narrow Pacific entrance of the Straits. On either side 
the desolate Andes catue down to the water's edge. The 
mountains were wild and nigged with jagged ])eaks. 
Here and there were patches of snow and a glacier that 
had been ])artcd by a giant granite rock, and divided into 
two rivers of ice as it flowed toward the sea. As we 




By ilrs.J. (:. I'll. I/, s stol.f 



Scenes in the Straits 




By Mrs..!. G. P)ulr- ^'"/■' 



Scenes in the Straits 




By Mrs. .1 . (,. ri,. li.s St,, I.-, 



Scenes in the Straits 




by Mrs..]. G. I'lul,,. .\i„l.-, 



Scenes in tlie Straits 



158 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



proceeded farther into the straits the ice and snow on 
the mountains increased. 

Our ship turned southward, through Alagdalen Sound, 
for about thirty miles that we might see Mount Sarmiento 
with its many glaciers. This mountain is about seven 
thousand feet high. Down its sides, almost to the sea, 
tlow glaciers that are greater than all of those of Norway 




Sarmiento Glacier 



combined. We stopped for half an hour in front of one 
of the most magnificent of these great glaciers. Within 
view at the same time were eight other large glaciers. 
Norwav cannot compare with the scenery here in the way 
of gigantic glaciers and snow-covered mountains, al- 
ihough these fjords lack the precipitous sides and the 
deep refiections that characterize those of Norway. In 



Through the Straits of Magellan 159 

cold, magnificent grandeur, Mount Sarmiento rivals 
Spitsbergen. 

From Sarmiento to Punta Arenas was a sail of five 
hours through narrow passages and over a mirror-like 
sea. The weather god favored us with clear, crisp 
weather and smooth seas in our journey through the 
often tempestuous straits. After a glorious golden sun- 
set and late twilight the many brilliant electric lights of 
Punta Arenas welcomed us. These evidences of civili- 
zation in the region of so much coldness and wildness 
gave us a sort of home-like feeling. 

Punta Arenas is the most lonesome city of the world. 
Its nearest neighbor is a thousand miles away. Its lati- 
tude is 53 degrees south, which is about the same as that 
of Liverpool north. The latitude of Hammerfest, the 
most northern city, is 70 degrees north, but the bottom 
of the earth is not blessed with a warming Gulf Stream 
as Europe is. 

Punta Arenas has streets from one hundred to two 
hundred feet wide, and it is laid ofif as though it were to 
be one of the great cities of the world, although after 
sixty years of existence it has accumulated from all the 
ends of the earth a population less than twenty thousand. 
In the center of the city the streets are paved well with 
cobble stones, but on the outskirts they are as grass- 
grown as the adjoining fields. It was interesting to 
find, in the middle of the streets, great clumps of our 
familiar white clover with large blossoms. 

Punta Arenas is a sort of corrugated iron town. Al- 
though many of the banks and business buildings and a 
few fine private residences are well constructed, vet 



Through the Straits of Magellan 161 

most of the stores and dwellings are but one story high 
and their walls are made of corrugated iron. This seemed 
strange, for there is an abundance of timber upon the 
hills back of the town, and large rafts of logs were float- 
ing: in the harbor. 

One of the striking features of the city is the evident 
love of flowers. Most of the homes, however humble, 
had in their front windows geraniums pressed close to the 
glass. Some of these were c]uite large and bright with 
flowers. The yards around the better residences were 
crowded with shrubs and flower beds. One front yard 
was filled with large alder bushes, fragrant with their 
white blossoms. Another had large beds of daisies. The 
luchsia. which is so common in Norway, was noticea' le 
by its absence. 

In a grocery window was a shelf filled with paper 
dishes containing strawberries. In llammerfest, above 
the Arctic Circle, I had eaten the luscious Norwegian 
berry, which grows as large as a peach, so I was anxious 
to taste these far southern ones. I bought a cjuart for a 
(juarter. They were of uneven size, the largest being 
about the same size as one of our medium berries, and 
the smallest were very minute. Although they had a 
forbidding green a])i)earance, they had an excellent flavor. 
They were sound, solid, and deliciously sweet, reminding 
me of the wild strawberry of Switzerland. 

( )ur visit to I'unta Arenas was on a Sundax' morning. 
and this world's frontier town, composed of adventurers 
of all natif)ns. was as quiet as a New England village. 
Aside from a few fur stores that opened to tempi our 



Through the Straits of Magellan 163 

pocketbooks, and a few small corner groceries, all places 
of business were closed tight. 

The people see.rned to be contented to stay in their 
homes, very few even attending church. One of our 
party went to mass at one of the Catholic churches. He 
said that the audience consisted of seventy women and 
that he was the only man. 

At the other Catholic church there was a fair attend- 
ance of men, but the women and girls were much more 
numerous. All seemed devout. I was interested in a 
penitent sinner, among the men. In a corner near the 
door, as if he were not worthy to enter far the sacred 
edifice, he spread his handkerchief upon the stone floor, 
kneeled and prayed. As he frequently made signs of the 
cross, his bosom heaved as if he were suffering intensely. 
Finally he arose and leaned against the wall and over his 
face spread a half smile. He had found relief from his 
sorrows. 

At about this time the (|uict of the ten o'clock mass was 
broken by the apprfjach of a brass band and two com- 
panies of soldiers. The soldiers marched down the 
center aisle and stood in solid formation at attention ding- 
ing the mass, while the band took up a position in the 
corner of the church and played loudly Lohengrin. The 
priest continued with the mass, but his voice was drowned 
in the tumult of the music. It seemed incongruous. 

The most southern city can boast of a railroad. A 
little narrow gauge one runs from the cily back a short 
distance in the country and up through a devastated 
forest repion to a coal mine. The coal is not of an extra 
good ([Ui'lily. 



166 Sight-Seeing in South America 

The Bliiecher on its westward passage through the 
straits went farther south through the fjords and among 
the glaciers of Beagle Channel to Usihawaia. This is a 
penal settlement of Argentina, where there is a massive 
prison. Escape from the island on which the prison is 
located is almost impossible, as it is seldom visited by 
merchant boats, and the surrounding region is cold, bleak, 
and barren. 

From Panta Arenas to the Atlantic Ocean was a sail 
of nine hours through the narrow straits. The shores 
i-re low and sandy and they look as if the straits had been 
cut through the pampas of Argentina. On Tierra del 
Fuego are raised great flocks of sheep. 

As we were sailing through the straits the waters for a 
long distance were alive with schools of fish called tor- 
nena. They reminded one of the dolphin or porpoise, 
except that they are white with big black spots on their 
heads and tails. They swim near the surface of the 
water and leap the waves occasionally. 

A strong current of about seven miles an hour runs 
through the straits. The tide on the Pacific is about 
^even feet and on the Atlantic about fifteen feet, con- 
sequently there are many cross currents that take a heavy 
toll of steamships. We saw three wrecked ships. One 
was half sunk,' while the other two looked as if they had 
poked their noses into the sandy beach and were waiting 
to be pulled out by tugs. They did not appear dam- 
aged, although they had been abandoned. 

On account of shifting winds and cross currents, sail- 
ing ships seldom enter the straits. They still go around 
tempestuous Cape Horn, several hundred miles farther 




JU/ (,e. .,./,. .N. n,,r.l 



A (iigaiitic ("ilacier in Beagle Channel 



168 



Sight-Sceing in South America 



south. It took Magellan and his little lleet thirty-eight 
days to pass through the straits that a steamship can now 
traverse in a day. Magellan found the straits so violent 
that when he reached the quieter western ocean he gave it 
its present name of Pacific. Magellan's ship, the Vit- 




ByG 

'pile (".lacier and llie Cataract Conic Down to the Sea 

toria, was the first vessel that circumnavigated the globe, 
but Magellan himself was killed on his way home, at the 
age of forty-one, in a useless fight with the natives in the 
Philippines. These straits, that bear the name of their 
great discoverer, are about three hundred and fifty miles 
long and from two to twenty-five miles wide. 



Through the Straits of Magellan 169 

The Atlantic received us calmly, and after a few days 
of pleasant sailing we reached Montevideo and warmer 
weather. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Montevideo 

OF THE ten South American republics, the Banda 
Oriental, as it is locally known, is the smallest. 
Rich in history as well as in resources, Uruguay is 
making remarkable commercial strides. Foreign capital- 
ists have confidence in this, the only gold standard country 
of South America. This is evidenced by the investment 
of .$250,000,(X)O of English capital. In no other republic 
are North Americans held in such high esteem. This 
field is, therefore, a promising one for our capital ; yet 
there are only seventy North Americans to five hundred 
Britishers in A'lontevideo. 

Since the founding of Montevideo, in 1726, perhaps no 
city on the continent has had a greater struggle. Out of 
the darkest night of Uruguayan history came Artigas, 
lier hero, the San Martin of Uruguay. 

Uruguay was the last of the Latin American republics 
to win her independence. Passing into the hands of 
Spain, Portugal, Argentina, and Brazil, finally thirty- 
three Uruguayan exiles started out from Buenos Aires 
determined upon her ultimate independence from Brazil. 
These thirty-three have lived in the annals of history like 
the forty-seven Ronins of Japan. "Trienta y tres" has 
been handed down to coming generations as a name for 
cities, streets, and parks. At last, in 1828, she declared 
her independence. To-day she lays claim to the best 



Montevideo 171 

constitution in South America, a constitution unchanged 
for eighty years. 

An inherited bitter hostility, originating in her early 
political rivalries, continues between the two political 
parties, the Blancos and the Colorados — the whites and 
the reds. They are born the one or the other and seldom 
change. 

In recent years the introduction of freezing processes 
for preserving meats and the development of vast acres 
of wheat land have given to the entire republic an air of 
prosperity. This is of a substantial and permanent char- 
acter. 

Montevideo, with its four hundred thousand inhabi- 
tants, is one of the cleanest and prettiest cities we saw. 
After visiting Buenos Aires, the Paris of America, one 
cannot but notice the contrast with this metropolis of 
Uruguay, only one hundred miles away. \\ hen the 
Argentines desire to be free from the noise and frivolity 
of Buenos Aires, with its crowds, parades, and excite- 
ment, they are attracted to the restful, sand-beached seas 
and the modest surrounding of the shore hotels in the 
environs of Montevideo. Its broad streets and avenues, 
spacious thoroughfares, well-shaded drives and parks are 
most attractive. Sidewalks, like most of those in South 
America, are of tiles laid in cement. Sanitary conditions 
are good. 

Montevideo holds a commanding position with her 
horseshoe bay. six miles in length, and her l)eautiful 
harbor. Vessels of forty steamshi]) comj^anies. most of 
theiu English, enter her harl)or every year. Jealous\- be- 
tween Argentina and I'.razil will tend to keep I'ruguax' 



172 Sight-Sceing in South America 

a free republic, for neither will allow the other to take 
her, and the Monroe Doctrine will protect her from for- 
eign invasions. River and railroad facilities and a gold 
standard will always give her standing among the other 
nations of the world. Her dollar is the highest-priced 
dollar in the world. Though the seasons are directly 
opposite to ours, their summer being our winter, the 
climate at all times of the year is superb, surpassing even 
that of Florida. 

The Cerro is the most conspicuous landmark. From 
the quay it may be reached by tram or boat. This coni- 
cal hill is surmounted by a fort from which may be had 
a good view of all the surrounding country. Of much 
needed assistance to the navigation of the bay is the 
lighthouse on the fort. Its revolving light may be seen 
twenty-five miles out at sea. From this hill the city 
gets its name, "I see the hill," Montevideo. At the foot 
of the Cerro is the Villa del Cerro. Neglected dwellings 
house the employees of the surrounding solideros. Ital- 
ian settlers are numerous. The Cerro itself is bleak and 
barren. Connected with it there is but little of interest. 
It can best be seen from a distance. One can really 
appreciate it more by not yielding to a near approach. 

On the outskirts of the Cerro are the solideros. This 
is the only country where meat is treated as it is in these 
solideros. After being salted down in such quantities 
of salt that it can never spoil, it is hung up on immense 
racks to cure in the sun. When dried out thoroughly, it 
is piled up in the yard where it awaits shipment. When 
cured it is white and hard and will keep indefinitely. 



Montevideo 



173 



Shipments are made to Brazil and Cuba and other places 
where meat is scarce. 

Besides twenty solideros scattered throughout Uruguay, 
Licbig's beef extract is here represented in the meat 







Sun-Dried Meat 

packing Imsiness, and the American meat trust is getting 
some hold on the country's product. These southern 
republics are the coming stock countries of the world. 
The L'nited States, once the leading stock country, can 
hardly sui)ply its own people. ( )ur increasing population 
and decreasing government range will make it necessary, 
in a few years, to go to South America for our beef. 



174 



Sight-Seeing in Sonth America 



A large, old cathedral remaining from the period of 
Spanish dominion is situated on the Plaza Constitucion in 
the center of the city. Here the bodies of the first presi- 
dent and the first archbishop are buried. Near by, on the 
Plaza Independencia, is the Governor's Palace, also a relic 
of Spanish control. 

On the southwest corner of the same plaza is the 
famous Solis Theater, large, beautiful, and well located. 




By M 



A Tilted Photograph of Solis Theatre 



Adioining the Solis Theater is the National Museum, 
which is supposed to be open only Thursdays and Sun- 
days, from one until five o'clock. By earnest entreaty 
the tourist may secure admission at other times. The 
guide thought it easier to admit us than to find an inter- 
preter to explain the rules. A visit to Montevideo is not 
complete without a study of Uruguayan art and history 
as contained within these walls. More can be learned 
from this collection of the manners and customs of the 



Montevideo 175 

aboriginal tribes and of Spanish dominion than from 
weeks of travel in the republic. Indian utensils of every 
description are gathered together. The bolas, of which 
we read, are exhibited in every form and variety. These 
round stone slings, used by the Indians to lasso horses 
nnd ostriches, though cruel, were of almost universal use. 

A modern propaganda against the influence of church 
and religion received strong support from the govern- 
ment, and especially from the President, Jose Battle, who 
has strong socialistic, anti-Christian, and anti-church ten- 
dencies. His socialistic ideas were recently expressed in 
a partially successful attempt at government monopoly 
of the insurance business. 

Uruguayan thinkers are anti-religious. The Roman 
church is losing its hold on the men. During our cruise 
the papers published accounts of the action of the gov- 
ernment in regard to the carnival of 1912. A decree was 
issued that the carnival be celebrated on Ash Wednesday, 
the first day of Lent. Government opposition to the 
church is the only explanation for such a decree. Young 
men, sent out by the Roman church to tear down the 
government posters, and to distribute circulars request- 
ing the people not to celebrate on that day, were arrested. 
This call of the church was ineffective, for Ash W'ednes- 
day ])roved to be the big day of the carnival. 

Protestantism is making slow progress. Two English- 
speaking churches, Anglican and Methodist, minister to 
English-speaking peo])le. In addition to this, the Meth- 
odist Church has a native work in Spanish that is very 
strong. Some of the influential Uruguayans are inter- 



176 Sight-Seeing in South America 

ested in Christian work, particularly the Secretary of the 
Supreme Court, Dr. J. Cubilo. 

With a membership of three hundred and thirty, and 
a building of three stories, the Young Men's Christian 
Association is doing a good work among the men. Read- 
mg rooms, games, and dormitories are leading features 
of the work. 

In educational matters, Uruguay is progressive. Free 
education is provided for children. The university, with 
its many large scattered buildings, is remarkably strong. 

Hotels are more modest than in Buenos Aires and 
less expensive. Those at the pleasure resorts are well 
arranged and comparatively reasonable. We experienced 
some difficulty while there in getting just equivalents for 
American gold, or notes, and paid exorbitant prices for 
iced drinks. Only eighty cents were allowed for an 
American dollar. Natural mineral water sold for sev- 
enty-five cents a bottle. 

Cabs and public vehicles are little used on account of 
the rough roads and high prices. We drove out to the 
Prado. While this large and beautiful park can be 
reached by tram, its beauties can best be observed by 
carriage. In the center of the Prado a new restaurant 
is in process of construction. It is a small stucco build- 
ing, but very pretentious. In the same vicinity some 
buildings of a permanent character are being constructed 
for the next State Fair. 

Inland and seaside resorts are numerous. The best 
1 nown inland resort is Colon. Of the seaside resorts. 
Pocitos is probably the favorite, though Ramirez is a 
close rival. Parque Urbano is easily reached by tram. 



Montevideo 



177 



When our party of nearly two hundred aHghted here, we 
were met by an American pop corn man from Pennsyl- 
vania, who was so delighted to see so large a number of 
his own countrymen, that he generously and gratuitously 
supplied them with his product. In looking over oppor- 



:*^S^:,#'' 



*!MSW"^,;^ ,^^ 




Movalile Hath Houses and l'ar<iiie Hotel 

tunities in South America, he concci^'ed the id'-.'a of set- 
ting u]) a typical North American ])op corn stand. Me 
has made a small fortune and has a ready sale for all 
the pop corn he can ])repare. The novelty took well, 
and thus far lie has had no competition. 

Pocitos and Parque Urbano are the two great bathing 
resorts for the people of fashion. Though the beach at 
Pocitos is very fine, the water is S(jme\vhat discolored bv 



178 Sight-Seeing in South America 

the currents of La Plata. Hotel Pocitos was built about 
a year and a half ago to supplant an old hotel of the 
same name. Our visit was made during the high season. 
Many guests were present. All of the one hundred and 
twenty-eight rooms were occupied. 

This district of the city is entirely new. Magnificent 
residences and villas, all constructed within the past three 
years, make this one of the most delightful locations in 
the vicinity of Montevideo. 

On our way to Pocitos, we passed a large Italian hos- 
pital on the Artigas Boulevard. It compares favorably 
with the best hospitals of our own country. 

The Parque Urbano Hotel, of magnificent proportions, 
was built four years ago. It is the only place in Uruguay 
where gambling is licensed. Until about a year and a 
half ago the hotel was closed. Unable to resume with- 
out the games, they secured the concession of the govern- 
ment to continue them. Gambling is now its chief sup- 
port. The government receives the three dollars admis- 
sion to the gambling hall, and thirty per cent, of the earn- 
ings besides. 

During the promenade hour, about ten o'clock in the 
evening, the Parque Urbano is crowded. From nine to 
eleven in the morning, and from five to seven thirty in 
the evening, are the popular bathing hours. Small bath 
houses on wheels are pulled in and out of the water by 
horses, so that bathers do not have to appear on the 
beach. Entering the bath house on dry sand they emerge 
from it in the deep water. Men use one side of the 
pier and women the other. The use of separate bathing 
places at the coast is characteristic of South America. 



Montevideo 



179 



A much frequented pleasure resort and playground is 
the Villa Dolores. This villa is owned by a private citi- 
zen. Don Alejo Rossely Riue, and was opened free to the 




By J. D. Pel 

Stately Cranes 

iUncclier tourists. The usual entrance fee is devoted to 
charity. IJirds of varied plumage and animals from 
every part of the world arc gathered here. Arrange- 
ments are made for all sports and amusements for chil- 



180 



SigJit-Sccing in Soiitli America 



dren. Lakes, water-falls, and artificial grottoes, in which 
are imitated artificial stalactites and stalagmites, and 
imitations of old Ronian ruins tlone in cement, all make 
this one of the delightful spots of the city. Three small 
lion cubs, just a week old, furnished much amusement 




The Animal Cemetery at Villa DoUjies 

to the visitors. AVithin the grounds is a cemetery where 
the dead animals are buried. Expensive monuments, 
bearing appropriate epitaphs, are erected to their mem- 
ory. This is one of the most attractive zoological gardens 
in the world. 



Montevideo 181 

Every cemetery has its own distinctive features. Usu- 
all\- they are uninteresting, but those of South America 
are characteristic, and should not be overlooked. From 
the one at \'illa Dolores, we went to the Cementerio 
Central, which contains a beautiful little cha])el, ap- 
proached from the main entrance by a tiled path. Above 
this path is a glass roof resting on iron supports. Stately 
cypresses and marble figures, beautifully sculptured by 
Italian artists, line the entrance. Lender the chapel, and 
entered at the rear, is the national vault with the Uru- 
guayan coat of arms upon the wall. In the center of 
the vault is the tomb of General Artigas, the founder of 
Uruguayan independence. His picture appears on post- 
age stamps. 

Here also is the tomb of General Eugenio Garzon, 
dated December 1, 1891. An urn contains his ashes. 
A sealed jar, standing upon the tomb in public view, holds 
his heart, preserved in alcohol. 

The Cuceo cemetery overlooks the sea. In this pic- 
tin'cs(|ue spot the dead repose on a hill above the wave- 
washed shores below. 

At 131 Calle 25 de ^layo is a one-story private resi- 
dence on which the following inscri])tion is seen on a 
white marble slab: "En esta casa vivio Jose Garibaldi en 
la epoca de la defensa de AFontevideo." 

So adapted is the climate to varied jiroducts that we 
saw, on the outskirts of the city, potatoes growing in 
palm groves, and cabbage in orange groves. In the 
Prado one side of a drive is lined with pines and the 
other with eucal}'ptus. 



182 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



Near Salto, about twenty miles away, is found a pecul- 
iar crystal stone, enclosing more or less water. Every 
movement of the water within is clearly seen. Some of 
the stones are very clear, others are opaque. Mineral 
deposits seem to have been formed around a small quan- 




By A'u,-! Jii,sl 



South American Ostriches 



tity of water under such conditions, and so rapidly, that 
before the water could be half evaporated it would be 
thus encased. These stones are characteristic of Salto 
and make a very interesting souvenir as well as natural 
curiosity. Jewelry stores at Montevideo sell them for 
from two to four dollars gold, according to the clearness 
of the crystal and the size of the stone. Some of our 
passengers, failing to secure these crystals here, were 
obliged to pay four times as much at Rio de Janeiro. 
This is about the only souvenir that Montevideo produces. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Rio de Janeiro 

WHEN on January 1, 1501, Amerigo Vespucci and 
other explorers sailed, for the first time, into the 
magnificent harbor of Rio, they mistook it for 
a river. It has ever since been called "River of January." 

Rio is situated on this wonderfully picturesque land- 
locked harbor with a water front boulevard on which 
millions of dollars have recently been spent. No globe 
trotter has ever seen a more beautiful city. Only ten 
5;hort years ago winding, narrow streets, medieval archi- 
tecture, yellow fever, and plague held sway. Nature 
had done much, but until man removed the ravages of 
disease, and made his works harmonize with the sur- 
rounding natural beauty, Rio was a much avoided city. 
Then it lay between three hills — Castello, San Bento, 
3nd Santo Antonio. To accomplish the miraculous 
change, required the building of quays and the con- 
struction of avenues and canals without stopping to 
count the cost. 

During our stay at Rio we did not see any mosc|uito 
netting. One lady, who recently had returned from the 
United States, said that she was glad to get away from 
screened air. Flies and mosc|uitoes are rare, so that 
there is no occasion for netting. Large glass show win- 
dows are frc(|uently dotted with spots of germicide where 
war is being made against these pests. 



Rio dc Janeiro 



185 



Though second in size, Rio is first in beauty of all the 
South American cities. It is larger than San Francisco 
and has an excellent climate. 

With so much of interest to be seen, one is at a loss 
to know how or where to begin. No curriers are avail- 
able. Professional guides are unknown. English is 
little spoken. No guide books are on the market. Not 
a map of the city could be purchased at any book store. 




liij Miss A lire Crinne 

Summer Palace of Dom Pedro II. on Fiscal Island 

Xo tourist offices exist. Cook and Baedeker have left 
the country untouched. One can enjoy the scenery and 
climate, the life and activity, but of public buildings 
little information can be secured. 

Near the quay is a small island bordered with palms. 
It is known as Fiscal Island. Formerly there were 1)Ut 
a few rocks jutting out of the water. r>y cementing 
other rocks to them this island was formcfl. The large 



186 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



building, covering most of the island, is the custom house. 
It is said that a submarine tunnel connects this island 
with the fort on the other side of the quay. If this is 
true, it is not generally known. On this quaint island 




By Miss A. E. 1-iittison 

Mosaic Sidewalk on Avenida Central 

Dom Pedro II. gave a grand ball the night before he was 
taken prisoner. 

Rio's interest centers particularly in her avenues, public 
buildings, and business streets. Foremost is the Avenida 
Central, the most magnificent avenue in the world. Eight 



188 Sight-Seeing in South America 

years ago six hundred buildings stood in the very center 
of it. There was then no street where the avenue now 
runs. To build a city like Rio on virgin soil would have 
been an easy task compared with the problem that con- 
fronted the city fathers when they remodeled this city 
of nearly a million inhabitants. The houses that stood 
where this avenue has been con.structed were purchased 
for nearly eight million dollars, their assessed valuation. 
The next year, on the fifteenth of November, the anniver- 
sary of Brazil's independence, the Avenida was opened to 
the public. Certain details of architecture and rules of 
hygiene are required in all buildings here constructed. 
The Avenida is one hundred and eight feet wide and one 
and an eighth miles long. In the center are ovals for 
flowers, plants, and trees. Electric and gas lights on 
artistic poles combine to make the night as glorious as 
the day. Mosaic sidewalks extend the entire length on 
each side. White and black flint stone from Portugal 
form various designs, wrought by Portuguese workmen. 

Rio is the federal capital. To beautify it and make it 
the most attractive city of the world, the government 
has contracted a debt of over $50,000,000. Besides the 
houses demolished on the Avenida Central, eleven hun- 
dred more are to be torn down. In some places streets 
are being made where no streets before had been. To 
build one avenue an entire hill had to be removed. It 
is a rapid transition from the old to the new. Nothing 
has stood in the way of progress, and the work still 
continues. 

Modern municipal and private buildings and monu- 
ments grace the Avenida. In the center of the avenue, 



190 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



near the bay, is a granite obelisk, erected to commemor- 
ate its opening. On it are inscribed these words: "Inau- 
guracao de Avenida Central de 15 Novembro de 1905." 
At the extreme end of the Avenida, facing the bay, is 
the well-known Monroe Palace, standing jnst as it did at 
the St. Louis Exposition, from which it was removed to 
Rio. It is highly stuccoed, but has marble steps. "Brazil" 




By c. II. JJaneij 



Municipal Theatre Plaza 

is carved above the entrance. This building is used for 
public meetings on special occasions. 

Grouped together at the same end of the Avenida are 
the Municipal Theatre, the Museum of Fine Arts, the 
National Library, and a new modern seven-story hotel. 

The National Library is a large, spacious, and hand- 
some building of four stories with a large marble stair- 
way and a broad court, lighted by a glass roof above. It 
contains two hundred and fifty thousand volumes. Among 



Rio dc Janeiro 



191 



other rare volumes, is a Latin Bible on parchment, printed 
in 1469, from the Gutenberg press. With its own print- 
ing presses and bindery, this library is perhaps as com- 
plete as any in the world. Prints, engravings, and rare 
old coins complete a very valuable collection. 




The i\runicipal Theatre, the Finest in .America 



Across tlie street is the Municipal Theatre, one of the 
finest, tliough not the largest, in the world. Renaissance 
architecture predominates. Two distinct buildings com- 



192 Sight-Seeing in South America 

[;rise the whole, one of the theater proper, the other the 
administration offices and the power plants. Native granite 
from the Candelaria quarry is used for the grand stair- 
way; Italian and Belgian marble for columns. Seventeen 
Vitreaux, designed and executed in Germany, decorate 
the windows. A gilded copper eagle, twenty feet from 
tip to tip, adorns the top. L. Dumont, a Brazilian artist, 
decorated the ceiling over the grand stairway. White 
and gold predominate in the "foyer," which is decorated 
in the style of Louis XVI. Marbles, onyx, bronzes, and 
artistic decorations of rare beauty and richness harmonize 
with the general effect. Three million five hundred thou- 
sand dollars have been spent in its construction. It will 
seat about seventeen hundred people. 

Near by is the Academy of Fine Arts with an abun- 
dance of wall space and many magnificent works of real 
merit. The building is new and suitable for its pur- 
pose. 

While we were in Buenos Aires the flags were at half 
mast. Rio Branco, the Brazilian minister of Foreign 
Affairs, had just died. He was the widest-known and 
best-loved man of Brazil. By the time we reached Rio 
de Janeiro, the name Avenida Central had been changed 
as a tribute of respect to this great man. Other street 
signs were being replaced with new. This changing of 
the names of streets is a common occurrence. Many 
attempts have been made to change the name of the 
Ouvidor. The only place where the new name, "Rua 
Moreira Cezar," is seen, is on the street sign. Ouvidor 
still prevails ; but Avenida Central, only two months after 



Rio dc Janeiro 



193 



Rio Branco's death, was commonly known as Avenicla 
Rio Branco. 

One afternoon we visited the room where this states- 
man had so recently died. 1:1 is official residence was the 
Itamaraty Palace, to wdiich, after finding a German to 
interpret for us. we were admitted. Rio Branco's suc- 
cessor. Dr. ]\ Killer, very kindly took us through the 







Mm 




\, 




iW 




^^^BPtjj^^- 


r »• - 


/M t^^^^K^' 


^1 


M« 






Bl 



Bil C. II. 11', n^,/ 



The Fire Department 



palace. Its builder, from whom it received its name, was 
a rich Brazilian and intended it, at the time of its con- 
struction in 1854, for a private palace. Eventually it was 
purchased by the state and used for the Department of 
lujreign .\ffairs. Though situated near the Praca Repub- 
lica, the exterior is not preteiitious and does not attract 
particular attention. Its interior is typical of the elab- 
oration of rich men's i)alaces fiftA' ^'ears ago. One room 



194 Sight-Seeing in South America 

contains a large marine oil painting executed by King 
Carlos I. of Portugal, whose name appears on the canvas. 
This paniting was a gift of Carlos to Rio Branco. 
Offices surround a beautiful large garden which takes the 
place of a patio. On one side a magnificent new build- 
ing is being constructed to make room for more offices. 
When finished, a whole row of houses, now standing in 
front of it, are to be demolished so as to give it a street 
view. The reception room of the palace is in green. 
It contains the portraits of the presidents. Nitre and 
Virquinza. The ballroom is large with green hang- 
ings and many mirrors. Brazilian hardwood, in hand- 
some designs of black and white, is used for the floor. 
Portraits of the emperors and of all the presidents 
adorn the red room. D. Joao, the king of Portugal and 
emperor of Brazil, heads the list. A large library in the 
rear contains some twenty thousand volumes. We were 
much pleased to see here, in a large table volume, well 
executed steel engraAnngs of the Presidents of the United 
States of America. 

On the Morro de Castello, so called from a prominent 
castle on the very top, is the church of Sao Sabastiao, 
where is burie,'^ the founder of the city, Estacia de Sa. 
This church is one of the oldest of the city. Fresh blue 
tinted plaster gives it a new appearance, though it dates 
back to 1546. The floor is partly wood and partly tile. 
Interior altars, like most of those in South America, are 
decorated to a fault. Stucco gives it a cheap and com- 
mon appearance. 

At one corner of the church is an ancient marble mon- 
ument protected by an iron fence. On it is this inscrip- 




The Mangue Canal and Avenue of Palms on Jutlier Side 



196 Sight-Sceing in South America 

tion, now almost obliterated: "Marco da Cidado di Rio 
de Janeiro." It is the old monument of the foundation 
of the city. 

Near this church, narrow alleys and crooked streets are 
alive with poor people, packed im close quarters and 
eking out a miserable existence in squalid hovels. Free 
bread is distributed from the church every Sunday. A 
stone slab imbedded in the wooden floor, directly in front 
of the high altar, marks the burial place of Estancia de 
Sa. The slab bears the date of 1583. A Capuchinian 
monastery is connected with the church. 

In visiting the points of interest our carriages were 
drawn by mules. They are used instead of horses and 
make excellent travelers. 

Our drive included the Praca de Republica, located 
in the heart of the city. Natural beauty, combined with 
artificial setting of rustic bridges of concrete logs — a per- 
fect imitation — make it a most attractive resting place. 
Here Dom Pedro I. was proclaimed emperor. This gave 
to the park the original name of Praca de Acclamaccao. 
When Brazil became a republic the name was changed to 
Placa de Republica. 

We passed the large imposing Bourse of solid granite 
on the First of March Street. In the center of Tridantes 
Square we stopped long enough to admire the equestrian 
statue of Dom Pedro I. On it Brazil's four large rivers 
are represented by four Indian tribes. 

We noticed that Rio's policemen carry clubs after the 
custom of the United States. They had been introduced 
but a few weeks. 



198 Sight-Seeing in South America 

The large buildimgs at Botofoga are former exposition 
buildings, now UFed for a military school. 

Of more brilliant color and varied interest than the 
stores are the open markets. In the early morning they 
are crowded with native venders of fruits and vegetables, 
crude pottery, and general merchandise. In Rio's mar- 
kets are monkeys and parrots, fish with protruding eyes, 
and snails with their slimy crawl. The latter are con- 
sidered a great delicacy and are served at all the first- 
class hotels. Tobacco is sold in coils resembling rope. 
It is piled up in front of booths like hawsers on a steam- 
ship dock. Wooden hands, with the thumb protruding 
between the first and second fingers, and all the fingers 
closed, are hung before some stalls to keep away the evil 
eye. In others they are on sale. Rural laborers pur- 
chase them as charms to ward ofl:' evil. 

Four streets in Rio are deservedly famous, the Avenida 
Central (Rio Blanco). Avenida Mem de Sa, Avenida 
Beira Mar. and the Ouvidor. No carriages or trams 
are allowed on the latter, day or night. To construct 
Mem de Sa, whole blocks of houses had to be removed 
and a high hill, Morro de Senado, cut away. An old 
aqueduct crosses this avenue. Two tiers of arches sup- 
port the upper part on which, high in mid air, the Cor- 
covado electric cars are run. The double arches are 
used to give strength and height. This is one of the few 
remaining evidences of Portuguese occupation. It is a 
part of the great water system built bv slave labor in 
colonial days. Pipes of modern construction convey the 
water into the cit3^ but near the source of supply the old 
aqueducts are still in use. 




Jill ,)//v., Mnry .Uarisoii 

Avenue of Royal Palms in Botanical Garden 



200 Sight-Sceing in South America 

Of more than usual interest, with its varied and classi- 
fied plant life, are the Botanical Gardens. The cost of 
reaching this location, which is true likewise of others, 
depends upon which streets the tram takes. To travel 
on a line, going through the most fashionable part of 
the city, costs more. Admission to the garden is free. 
The only guard who knew English did not know it. He 
repeated everything that . was said to him. \Mien we 
asked, "Where is the mother of palms?" he repeated as 
distinctly as we asked it, "Where is the mother of 
palms?" and looked wise. He could speak English as a 
parrot speaks it and with as little understanding. We 
had the satisfaction of feeling that when he spoke Portu- 
guese he knew what he was talking about, and when we 
spoke English we knew what we were talking about. 
Unfortunately, there is nothing in this garden to direct a 
stranger. In the absence of a map, guide book, or cur- 
rier, it took much time and patience to find the things 
we desired especially to see. At last we succeeded, but 
not with the' assistance of our English-speaking guide. 
We sought until we found. 

Here one may^ see the sapote tree with its long leaves. 
It comes froni;,|lie tropical forests where it supplies the 
gummy substance out of which the chewing gum of 
commerce is ntade. One avenue, half a mile in length, 
lined with royal palms, is alone worth going to Rio to 
see. 

On the lake, in the center of the garden, is the Victoria 
Regina, a water lily with a large leaf with an inverted 
rim like an immense pie plate. 



Rio dc Janeiro 



201 



One of the curiosities is the mother of pahns from 
which all the other palms of Rio came. It is. opposite 




MU V.U.lUniii 

The Mother of Pahns 



the farthest gateway, some distance from the entrance. 
The tree is very high and is enclosed in a cement fence 
on which is the following inscrijjtion : 



202 Sight-Seeing in South America 

Oreodoxa oleracca 
plantada 
por 
D. Joao VI. 
1808. Palma mater. 1908. 
Facing the palm tree is a large bust on a granite monu- 
ment of Joao VI., the founder of the garden. 

Near the mother of palms, where a slight elevation 
begins, is a group of coffee trees identified by the scien- 
tific classification "Rubiaceae." 

Farther on we came to the gateway of the Seminarium, 
or nursery. Here, near a small tank of water, we found 
what we had been seeking for several hours. This high 
tree, growing over the gateway and leaning toward it, is 
a native of northern Brazil where it grows profusely. It 
is commonly known as the cow or milk tree. Each stem 
has five leaves. As it is the onh^ one in the garden, it is 
a very choice specimen. When we pierced the bark with 
a sharp knife a chalky white fluid appeared on the sur- 
face and ran down the side of the tree. Travelers are 
said to use this milk for coffee or cocoa. It is palatable 
and nutritious. 

Another curiosity, though more common than the milk 
tree, is the traveler's tree, located near the central lake. 
When cut with a knife, water gushes forth in abundance. 
During the dry season this tree fiu-nishes a never-failing 
supply of fresh water, a condition frecjuently taken ad- 
vantage of by travelers. 

All lawns and gardens, parks and resorts, in and about 
Rio, are sown with a very coarse species of grass which 
will not bear close inspection. A few feet away, how- 



Rio de Janeiro 



203 



ever, the coarse blades are not individually discernible 
and the effect of the deep green is most pleasing. 




/('/ ir, />. Fi 



A Cluinij of I lam 



As we left tlic garden, we passed the President of 
Brazil, riding in his antomobile unattended. 



204 Sight-Seeing in South America 

Not far from the Botanical Gardens is the Materni- 
dade, a foundling hospital built in 1910. Unlike the one 
at Santiago, the torno or roda, as it is called here, is 
connected directly with the institution. Here newly 
born babes are brought into a narrow, dark alley and 
placed in a wooden, cheese box-like arrangement in the 
side of a wall. A bell is rung and the torno is turned 
until it opens up in a room. Nuns care for the children 
I ntil they reach their majority. 

The same day we visited some of the churches of the 
city. Rio's cathedral is not as interesting as some of 
her other churches. Its exterior has been marred by a 
scaffolding that has stood over it more than three years. 
The process of repair i?. slow. In 1892 it was remodeled. 
The interior is over gilded and has a very displeasing 
effect. Lack of funds required the suspension of the 
work. The bishop of the cathedral is the only Cardinal 
in South America. 

Across the street is the old imperial palace of Dom 
Pedro, now used for telegraph offices. Originally it was 
connected with this cathedral. 

Adjoining the cathedral is the Church of Carmen. 
The most beautiful church in Rio, however, is the Can- 
delaria, with heavy bronze front doors of artistic merit. 
A large ebony screen at the entrance is also artistically 
carved. We found the interior wood carving to be 
worthy of inspection. There is no stucco to cheapen it, 
and beautifully designed floor tiles add to the general 
appearance. Immense square pillars of white marble 
with black marble insets give to the interior the appear- 
ance of a European cathedral. There is a large nave and 



Rio dc Janeiro 205 

transept, but small aisles. When we visited it the priest 
was preaching in the oratorio. A very pronounced echo 
made it difficult to hear him. He spoke earnestly, and 
the people, most of whom stood, were attentive. 

Protestantism is represented ably by the Presbyterian 
Church, the largest denomination in South America. It 
has already the largest evangelical church in Rio with 
eight hundred and forty members. Dr. Reis, the pastor, 
is one of Brazil's most able orators. Following a Sunday- 
school session. I heard him preach a sermon two hours in 
length. At the close of the service the congregation 
comes forward to greet him. As they embrace him. he 
embraces them, for, said he, "I love my people and they 
love me." 

At Pascal's, on the Ouvidor, the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association, gave a ban(iuet in honor of some of our 
distinguished passengers. When the after dinner 
speeches were concluded, Dr. Reis told of his remarkable 
work, and an interesting talk was made by a professor 
of a German college whose institution is assisted by the 
German government, so that German students here may 
be instructed in their own language. 

This Y. Al. C. A. is the oldest in South America. It 
has owned its own building for over ten years. There 
are more than twelve hundred members and seven hun- 
dred and fifty in the night school. 

The same evening a ])ublic assembly was held in the 
Y. M. C. A. auditorium. I had ])reviously asked several 
r)razilians to interpret to me the meaning of their flag. 
Xo one seemed to know it. Here, however, one voung 
man gave the story. It made the Brazilian flag study 




Monument Conimenioratnig First Landing of Portuguese in Brazil 



Rio de Janeiro 207 

most interesting. The green is the verdiie of the forest, 
the yellow the gold of the mines, the blue the vault of the 
skies. The lone star is the federal district. The band is 
the union of states. The twenty stars on the opposite side 
of the band represent the twenty states of Brazil. Prom- 
ment among them are five stars representing the Southern 
Cross. These five stars, with the fifteen others, are in 
the same position and bear the same relation to one an- 
other that they do in the heavens on the fifteenth of 
November, the date of Brazilian independence. 

No city has more attractive suburbs. We spent 
several hours at Boa Vista, a large and magnificent 
park, containing an aquarium and a museum. The 
acjuarium itself is more unicjue and attractive than its 
contents are interesting. It is made entirely of artificial 
stone and imitates a gigantic rock in the rough. Near it 
is a bamboo avenue which has the reputation of being 
the most beautiful in the world. Bridges of artificial 
logs, sunken gardens, lakes, and artificial islands all give 
to the museum, one of the old imperial palaces, majestic 
surroundings. Like most public buildings in Rio, this 
museum is open only on Thursdays and Sundays. Dur- 
ing our entire visit it was closed for repairs. From the 
front glass doors we could easily see the famous mete- 
orite, "Bendigo," Avhich weighs five tons. This is the 
most interesting specimen in the building. 

In the opposite direction are Copocabana and Leme, 
two excellent beaches recently opened. The former is 
attractive for sea bathing, with its fine, white sandv 
beach, gently sloping seaward. At Leme a huge perpen- 
dicular rock jets out into the sea. It is in strong con- 



208 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



trast with the long stretch of white sand adjoining. 
Desirable locations for building are rapidly being occu- 
pied. Strange to say, there are no public bath houses 
along Rio's beautiful beaches. Onlv those who live near 




JJy C. M. Haney 

A Pretty Residence Street 

and can go from their own homes to the beach can enjoy 
the advantages of surf bathing. Certainly, here is an 
opportunity for American capital to open public bath 
resorts if government concessions could be secured. The 
beach rivals any we had seen in South America. 



Rio dc Janeiro 209 

Street cars in Rio are still known as "Bonds.'' \\'hen 
United States capital became interested in organizing the 
street car company, much difficulty was experienced in 
selling the bonds. So frequently was the word used in 
connection with the cars that it became closely identified 
with them, and finally "Bond" and "Car" became syn- 
onymous. "Bond" still appears on post cards. When 
I asked how to go to a certain park, I was told to take a 
bond at Hotel Central. 

With confidence in her future, North American cap- 
italists harnessed tlie Lages River, fifty miles away, to 
furnish this cit}' with light and power. They have made 
her avenues beautiful by night and increased the efficiency 
of her car service a hundredfold. 

There is some manufacturing in various parts of the 
city. Judging from the women and children we saw- 
emerging from factories, female labor predominates. On 
the way to the Botanical Garden there is a large cloth 
factory. Xear it is an institution where mothers leave 
their small children to 1je cared for while thev work. 

Directly across the neck of the bay from Rio is 
Nictheroy, the capital of the State of Rio. Xictheroy 
is the old Indian name of the bay, and means Hidden 
Waters. Surveys have been made for a tube to connect 
these two cities. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Environs of Rio 
Corcovado, Tijiica, PetropoHs. 

The environs of Rio are picturesque and interesting. 
Above the city towers the sentinel rock Corcovado, the 
Hunchback. It is about three thousand feet high, with 
a precipice of several thousand feet facing the city. 
Several street car lines run about half way up its sloping 
side to a funicular railway that ascends almost to the 
top. Some distance' up the incline railway is a superbly 
located hotel at which we lunched. From the hotel are 
a number of paths, cut through the heart of the matted 
Brazilian forest, of which one leads to the summit. The 
vegetation is tropical and the moist background is a red- 
disli earth, which makes a striking setting for the luxur- 
iant greens of the plants and trees. 

The view from Corcovado is declared by enthusiasts 
to be the most beautiful in the world. It always is rash 
to use the superlative in regard to views and sunsets, but 
it may be pardonable in this instance. 

At one's feet is the magnificent, historic capital of 
Brazil, with all its avenues, parks, and public buildings 
distinctly visible; in front is the beautiful blue bay, with 
its picturesque islands and its narrow entrance guarded 
by the great granite rock. Sugar Loaf ; in the rear are the 
densely forested Organ Mountains, and floating all about, 
now below and now above, are fleecy white clouds. As 




By Mi.-~ 1/.',// V 



Corcovado 




By George S. Ward 



Along the Old Aqueduct 



Environs of Rio 



213 



the [apanese have a saying that no one should use the 
word beautiful until he has seen Nikko, so no one should 
speak of magnificent views until he has stood on the 
summit of Corcovado. 

We returned by the electric line that comes down into 
the city over the old Carioca aqueduct, past the loftily 
situated International Hotel. This ride is exceedingly 
beautiful and intenselv interesting. 




Hi/ C. It. II 



The Loftily Located International Hotel 



The a(|uc(luct is suggestive of the old world. It is 
Imih of granite with a semi-circular bottom four feet 
in width. At places it is partially beneath the grou.nd 
and at dlhers it is entirely above. It is ca]iped with 
granite in the form of a roof. A tablet in front of the 
fountain of Carioca, near the Convent of San Antoiiit). 



214 



Sights ceing in South America 



above which is the reservoir, states that the work was 
begun in 1719 and finished in 1723. 

Tijuca is a neighboring mountain of similar height to 
Corcovado. Through its forest-covered sides have been 
cut park-Hke roads that climb to its summit. Automobiles 
of high power are used for making the ascent. A well- 




By C. 11. ll<infy 

The Carioca Aqueduct Near the International Hotel 

known traveler writes that three things gave him thrills 
on his trip to South America, the Culebra Cut, the cross- 
ing of the Andes, and the automobile ride up Tijuca. 

Fifteen machines, of which three were repair machines, 
carried about sixty of our party up the mountain. The 
automobiles were mostly of European make, there being 
but one American machine in the number. The one in 
which I happened to ride was a ^Mercedes of eighty horse- 
power. 



Eiwirons of Rio 217 

With the American and Brazilian flags flying, we 
started on our wild ride. The Portuguese chauffeurs 
drive like mad, but they have the skill of their Parisian 
brethren. After bowling over beautiful roads, the ascent 
up a series of steep zig-zag inclines, with hair-pin curves, 
begins. Around these sharp curves and up the steep 
inclines, closely pursuing the madh^ dashing cars in front, 
and just keeping ahead of the ecfually wildly rushing cars 
behind, on we tear. We go through magnificent forests, 
we have wonderful views, but no one sees anything, for 
we are all entranced with the madness of the ride. At 
one sharp curve, where the machines can get only three- 
fourths the way around, and then have to back to the 
edge of a precipice, when they plunge forward, every one 
holds his breath, while his hair stands on end. As we 
follow the precipices and see the machines below rushing 
in opposite direction up the several inclines, the only 
thought that came to m\' mind was, what magnificent 
moving pictures this would make. In fact, it kept sug- 
gesting the familiar fanciful moving picture of the devil 
in the engine cab, driving a train wildly over bridges, 
mountains, and through rivers. We arrived in safety at 
the summit, and every one was so relieved that little 
thought was given to the magnificent view that almost 
equals the one from Corcovado. Then came the long, 
wonderful coasting down the mountain side, the ride 
through a low. marshy valley, dense with tro])ical ])lanta- 
tions, the climb of other movmtains along the ocean side, 
and tlie conclusion of the trip around P)reira ]\lar and 
u]) the Avcnida Central. ])ossibly the most beautiful 



Environs of Rio 



219 



avenues in the world. For scenery and excitement the 
Tjjuca ride has no rival. 




In Dreamy Paqueta 

The diplomatic capital of Brazil is Petropolis, located 
up in the mountains about two hours' ride by boat and 
mountain railway from Rio. It is connected also now 
directly l)y rail with Rio. but the pleasanter way to reach 



220 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



it is to take one of the bay boats, which stop for half an 
hour at the quiet, dreamy island of Paqueta, and then 




By Miss Doruthi/ JJurlimitt 

Carrvino; a Bread Box 



go on across the bay to the Petropolis railway landing. 
The ride from here is through a wild, picturesque, moun- 
tainous country, up about twenty-five hundred feet. For 




By 1. I . M,j 



Mills Near Petropolis 



224 Sights ceing in South Atiierica 

a part of the distance the rack and pinion railway con- 
struction is used. 

Petropolis is a quiet village with one broad main street, 
through which flows a mountain stream, lined on either 
side by high banks and tall trees and shrubbery. 

This mountain village was chosen as the diplomatic 
capital on account of the yellow fever and malaria that 
formerly annually raged in Rio. It is beautifully located, 
and around it are line drives and bridle paths, so that it 
is also a fashionable summer resort. The homes and 
grounds of the amba^^'sadors of various nations, including 
cur own, are large and attractive. 

In Petropolis are several well-known girls' schools. 
One occupies the summer palace of the last emperor, 
while the school for girls, conducted by the Methodist 
Church, South, has its quarters in another old palace. 

In the valley a few miles beyond Petropolis are large 
cotton mills operated by local water-power. Electric 
power is also brought over the mountains from a neigh- 
boring mountain stream. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Bahia 

FROM the "Bay of All Saints" the city of Bahia is 
picturesque in color and setting. It has a ribbon 
of green around the bluff, between the upper and 
lower city. It was founded thirty-five years before the 
oldest city in the United States. Being at one time the 
greatest port of entry for the negro slave, eighty per 
cent, of the population is colored. In colonial days, 
Bahia was the seat of government. When the location 
was changed, business did not decline. With a great un- 
developed country jtist coming to the front, this city pre- 
sents remarkable opportunities. It is the shipping point 
for the great state of the same name. Coft'ee, rubber, 
tobacco, cotton, cacao, and hides are exported in great 
quantities. As railroads are being constructed, her min- 
eral resources are being rapidly developed. 

The bay on which the city is located is about the size 
of Rio harbor. Upper and lower Bahia are connected by 
three ascenseurs, for which a fare of one hundred reis. 
the equivalent of three cents, is charged. Two of these 
lifts are American Otis elevators. Stores, warehouses, 
markets, and commercial buildings crowd the lower city 
near the bay : residences, ])arks, and public buildings 
adorn the u])i)er cit}-. The streets are short, narrow, 
winding, and hillv. 

At the top of one of the centrally located elevators, on 
the I'raca da Constitucao, is the Governor's Palace, once 




Uy W. U. Coii'lts 

Business Street in Lower City, Upper City Above 




By (ii.urye S. n'anl 



The City of Churches 



228 Sight-Seeing in South America 

a large, attractive building, now a mass of ruins. Five 
months before our visit, party strife led to its demolition, 
"i'he governor used the state militia to fortify it for his 
own protection and to further his own political ends. 
This led to strife between the "ins" and the "outs." The 
federal government, sympathizing with the "outs," gave 
orders to the militia and the navy to fire upon the palace. 
The result was a ruined palace and a new governor. Its 
reconstruction was scarcely begun when we were there. 
The debris had not yet been cleared away. 

Bahia is a city of churches. One may be found at 
the end of nearly every street. They number about one 
hundred and are of similar architecture. Most of them 
are very old. Good locations were selected when the 
city was being built, so they are displayed to advantage. 

On the Largo Quinze de Novembro, at the top of the 
lift nearest the quay, is the cathedral. It is well located, 
but is of little interest, except that it is one of the oldest 
in South America. 

Opposite the cathedral, at the end of a small street, is 
the Church of San Francisco, the approach to which is 
marked by a large marble cross standing in the middle 
of the street. This church was founded in 1587. The 
ceiling, walls, altars, and pillars are all of artistically 
carved wood, highly gilded and decorated to a fault. It 
is the extreme rococo style. It has the appearance of 
stucco, for the art is concealed with gilt veneer. Images 
are legion and are of carved wood gilded. 

A convent of Franciscan friars is connected with the 
church. In the chapel of the convent the ceiling and 
altar are of carved wood. The walls of the patio, as 



Bahia 229 

well as the walls of the church near the entrance, are 
decorated with blue and white -tiles. These were pre- 
sented by King- Philip I\\ of Portugal. They were 
brought from Holland, where they were executed by 
Dutch artists, and are of high artistic value. By some 
process, lost to modern art, the colors were burned into 
the tiles. A perfect pictorial display is secured by fitting 
them carefully together. Scenes of various character 
are depicted ; the seasons of the year, the continents, the 
months, biblical and church history. Several battle 
scenes of excellent composition are represented. No 
titles appear and no one knows to-day what battles were 
intended. Fifty friars, mostly Germans, are comfort- 
ably housed amid these artistic surroundings. 

The only entrance to the church choir is a door lead- 
ing out of the convent. In this choir loft are some 
artistic seats carved out of jacaranda. a native P)razilian 
wood, black and very hard. The railing between the nave 
and the side aisles in the church is of the same material, 
though not so beautiful as the choir. This work was 
all done by Friar Luizo Torneador, a Portuguese, about 
the year 1712. His name was Friar Louis, but in honor 
of his genius and ability, he was commonly known as 
Louis the Wood Carver. Here, at the noon hour, the 
friars feed the poor. Each recipient furnishes his own 
plate. 

Adjoining the cathedral is a medical school, known as 
the Faculty of Medicine. Kind and coiu'teous attention 
was given by the president, who showed us the building 
and gave us much information concerning it. Thirty 
regular professors and thirty assistants have charge of 



232 Sights ceing in South America 

eight hundred students. It is supported by the federal 
government. The course in chemistry requires two years ; 

o 

pharmacy, three ; and medicine, six. 




By Geurge S. Ward 



A Simple Funeral 



One of the unusual departments of the school is the 
Camera de Exposicao da Morgue. Dead bodies are 
brought here for identification. The morgue is similar 



Baliia 233 

to the old one in Paris. This is the only institution of 
its kind in Brazil. We saw two bodies in the morgue, 
one a Brazilian who had committed suicide, and the other 
that of an Italian who had been drowned. 

From this Plaza we took a tram to the parks and 
squares of the upper city and then to different points 
along the bay. These parks contain monuments erected 
to the memory of great Brazilians, to commemorate some 
great victory in their struggle for independence. 

In the Largo Duque Caixias is a high, majestic column 
of white Carrara marble, surmounted by a bronze figure 
of an Indian, commemorating l^razilian independence. 

In the center of Praca Riachuelo is a monument for 
the victory of the Brazilians over the Paraguayans. The 
battle was the most important of the Paraguayan War. 
This was the most bloody ever fought in America and 
possibly in the world. Continuing from 1864 to 1870, it 
left Paraguay almost destitute of male population. 

Brazil has contributed more art and literature to the 
Portuguese-speaking people than Portugal itself. Castro 
Alves, the most celebrated Brazilian poet, is from Bahia. 
His monument is in the Praca Castro Alves. 

From the lighthouse at Barra, we had a fine view of 
the bay. An old fortification, constructed by the Dutch 
during their occupancy, has been converted into a light- 
house. In it is a revolving light turned by hand. Pro- 
jecting out of the water, not far away, is the mast of 
an old French steamer, wrecked about seven years ago. 

We lunched at a hotel at Rio \^ermelho, one of Bahia's 
suburbs. Here we feasted on mangoes, alligator-pears, 



234 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



guavas, bananas, cnstard apples, and oranges. The lat- 
ter is the ancestor of the California navel. This fruit 
was the largest and best we had seen in any part of South 
America. 

Mr. C. H. Sessions, one of our party who had been 
engaged in orange raising in Riverside, California, tells 




BlJ 11". .//. Cuirlr 



A Catamaran 



the interesting storv of the introduction of the Bahia 
orange into California : 

"In 1874, when Riverside, California, was in its infancy, 
people were planting seedling trees, the buds of which 
were taken from the best trees in the orchard of Los 
Angeles and San Bernandino counties. At that time a 
Mr. Tibbetts received from the Department of the In- 




ftfl dtnryt S. II -/,./ 



Picturesque Streets 



236 Sight-Sceing in South America 

terior, at Washington, two trees that had come from 
Bahia. This was the orange which is now known as the 
Washington Navel. 

"At that time an orange was grown in southern Cah- 
fornia and known as the Anstrahan Navel, which was 




BlJ Jl. F. Li -.ll 



An Ornamentsd Store Front 



very large with a rough, thin skin, pulp coarse in texture, 
sweet and seedless. The new Bahia orange was of a 
medium size, smooth, thin skin, pulp fine in texture, sweet 
and seedless. This became very popular. Buds from 
these two trees sold for $1.00 or more apiece. 



Baliia 



237 



"For some reason the Tibbetts" orchard was neglected 
and these two trees nearly died. One of the trees was 
transplanted to the front of the Glenwood Hotel on May 
8, 1903, by President Roosevelt. The big golden 
orane'es still grow from its boughs. 




lill II. <■ . J.rsh 

Hanging (Jut tliu Window is Woman's Chief iCntertamment 



"The Washington Navel can be grown in the United 
States only in California and in a small section of alx^ut 
five thousand acres near Phoenix, .\rizona. In I'lorida 
ihev become seedlings. 



238 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



"A few years ago a Los Angeles County nurseryman 
sent a large shipment of Washington Navel trees to Jafifa, 
Palestine, which probably bear the delicious, sweet navel 
oranges that travelers liave bought at the railway station 
at Jaffa." 




Lazily Washing 



Bahia's negroes were very much interested in the 
colored maids and valets who accompanied members of 
our party. They crowded around the windows and 
doors to get a glimpse of them. It was as strange for 



Bahia 239 

them to hear a negro speak English as it was for us to 
hear them speak Portuguese. 

As souvenirs we brought with us from Bahia small 
rag dolls made by charity hospital patients, and hand-made 
lace of exquisite designs. Tourmalines are very cheap. 
Parrots, humming birds, beetles, and butterflies were pur- 
chased at reasonable prices, the Brazilian beetle costing 
only half as much as at Rio de Janeiro. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Para 

SAILING up the Para River is attended with interest. 
Long before land was sighted the waters of the 
muddy Para discolored the ocean. As we neared the 
river heavy rains fell all night. In the mist that gath- 
ered in the early hours of morning, we were unable to 
locate the pilot, who makes his home in a small boat near 
the mouth of the river. After five hours of waiting, we 
took him aboard. The pilot's fee is commensurate with 
his task. Five hundred dollars gold was his stipend for 
)-.iloting us to shore and bringing us out the next day. 
Drifting sands on the river bottom cause the channel 
to change so rapidly that only an expert can be relied 
upon. 

Nearing the shores one observes a most luxuriant 
growth of vegetation and many small, thickly-wooded 
islands. Sailing in and out among them are numerous 
little boats with colored cotton sails. This mingling of 
gay colors — blue, brown, red, and orange — makes a very 
picturesque marine effect against the background of 
green. 

Driftwood and shifting sand are so common at the 
mouth of the main artery of the Amazon that practically 
all of the Amazon River navigation is carried on in the 
Para River. Frequentl)', therefore, the Para is spoken 
cf as the eastern branch of the Amazon. Beyond Para, 
vessels navigate the Amazon, one way through Goiabal 
Pass, and the other through Breves Pass. 



Para 



241 



The Para was our Amazon. It is just what we, in our 
chikHsh dreams, imagined the Amazon to be. The land 
on either side of the river is low. Forest green skirts 
the water's edge without the sHghtest interruption. The 




An Old Cluirc 



water is rh'rt}' and miukly, a dingy orange brown. Our 
nine-hour trip on the I'ara River brought us within three 
miles of the city, k^rom this ])oint a large river steamer 
took us to tile new (|ua\'. Long before reaching shore the 



242 Sight-Seeing in South America 

city loomed up like a white city rising up out of the dis- 
tant waters ; but a nearer approach revealed a city of 
many colors, with whitened walls and red tiled roofs. 

Para, locally known as Belem, which means Bethlehem, 
is a tropical city one and a half degrees south of the 
equator, with a mean temperature of only eighty degrees. 
Founded in 1615, it has to-day a population of nearly a 
quarter of a million. It is the center of commerce and 
of the social life of the entire province. Vessels of the 
largest size find an easy and safe anchorage here. The 
biblical character of this city of Bethlehem is enhanced 
by giving one of its principal streets the name of Nazar- 
eth Street. 

Excessive rain and dampness make it difficult for 
whites to live in Para. There are only one hundred and 
ten Englishmen, twenty Germans, and six Americans. 
An Englishman holds the position of Vice Consul. He 
hails from London and introduced himself as the "Clark." 

It was the only place where we had rain during a shore 
excursion, but this did not interfere with our sight-seeing. 
It rains almost daily. The ground is of a porous nature 
and soon dries after heavy rains. 

Arriving late in the afternoon, we made our first visit 
in the evening. Gay crowds of people filled the cafes 
and amusement halls. Handsomely gowned ladies with 
escorts sat at the tables on the pavements. A magnificent 
theater is well patronized wlien they are fortunate enough 
to have a performance. Clubs and cafes are meeting 
places for the upper classes. 

The newspaper office of "La Provincia" was open for 
us. We visited the press rooms and used the office for 



Para 243 

a rest room. Every possible courtesy was shown by the 
management. This building of three stories, with appro- 
priate furniture, was a gift of the citizens to Dr. Lemos, 
the editor, whose voice and pen have done much to ad- 
vance the interests of I'ara. His efforts led to the im- 
provements at the "Bosque," its driveways, fountains, 
flowers, and foliage. 

The next day we visited by special street cars the 
points of interest in and about the city. The streets are 
broad, straight, and clean. Beautiful open plazas and 
parks are abundant. Portuguese architecture prevails. 
Ornamental tiles are not as frequent as at Recife, but 
they are still much in evidence. Well-trimmed trees 
shade the wide avenues and overtower the broad Fracas. 

Parque Alfonso Penna is one of the most central. 
Surrounding it are many buildings of interest, including 
the Governor's Palace and the cathedral. The latter was 
commenced in 1720. 

On one side of this Parque is the Bourse, only partially 
built. Its construction was begun ten years ago, but the 
funds were exhausted when the building was but half 
completed. jMarble facing and columns indicate that 
they intended making it one of the finest buildings of the 
city. It covers an entire block. The neglected interior 
and the skeleton walls are overgrown with ferns, orchids, 
and all kinds of tropical vegetation. The weirdness of 
this neglected building is enhanced by the crying of vul- 
tures as much as by the overhanging moss. \'ultures, 
the scavangers of the city, are protected by law. They 
fly over the c\t:x and lii>'hl on old buildings. 



Fara 245 

We spent some time at Para's famous Botanical Gar- 
den. A zoological garden and an ethnological museum 
are connected with it. Here may be seen Indian imple- 
ments and weapons, and strange and peculiar birds and 
beasts. Arrows and canoes made by the interior tribes 
of Indians are exhibited. Aboriginal Indians are found 
in numerous small tribes in the forests and plains of the 
interior. There are one million of them in Brazil. In 
the midst of the garden is a canoe sixty-three feet long, 
dug out of a single tree. It was made by the Indians on 
the river Tocantins. 

A small aquarium contains snakes peculiar to the equa- 
torial regions. Cages are ornamented with birds of 
varied plumage. Animals, seen nowhere else in the 
world, are on exhibition. Everything is classified. 
There is a chimpanzee of colossal size and little dwarf 
monkeys with white side whiskers. Sloths hang from the 
bars above and tapirs seek their easy prey in ant hills. 
Parrots swing on poles and monkeys spring in mid-air. 
There is a sea ox, a giant condor, and birds large and 
small. Electric eels give sharp shocks and parrots speak 
an unknown tongue. One can easily imagine himself 
suddenly transported into the very heart of the Amazon 
Valley. 

The German Directress of the garden, who has the title 
of Ph.D. from a German university, took us to a rubber 
tree in the garden, slitting the outer bark to let the 
cream-like rubber run into a small cup which she inserted 
in the tree as the native rubber gatherers do. One tree 
fills a small cup of less than half a pint a day. Rubber 
trees grow all around Para, but there are few in the citv. 



246 Sight-Seeing in South America 

Beyond the actual precincts of the city a dense forest 
begins, a portion of which has been fenced in and par- 
tially cleared. It is known as "La Bosque." The Bosque 
is all of natural growth. Nothing has been planted or 
introduced. It is a small portion of a real virgin 
Amazon forest with only enough clearing of underbrush 
to furnish paths for the visitor to see the trees. Noth- 
ing is classified. It is an example of the tropical vegeta- 
tion surrounding this flat city. 

The State of Para has one hundred varieties of palms. 
Its forests contain twenty thousand different kinds of 
trees. 

Everything is rubber at Para. Rubber receiving, cut- 
ting, and packing may be seen near the new quay on the 
street fronting the river, and to the right of the landing. 
The docks are filled with small boats that carry cargo 
to the vessels that lie out in the river. Para is the prin- 
cipal rubber market of the world. In 1910, from Para 
was exported $54,000,000 worth of rubber, and from all 
Brazil, $124,000,000. 

One of the most interesting features of Para is the 
market. It is around a small basin crowded with fishing 
boats with sails of bright blues, reds, and pinks that make 
it very picturesque. Tropical fruits and fish of all kinds 
are sold, as well as gaudy dishes and bowls made by the 
Indians out of gourds. 

We sailed away at noon. The vanishing of the city 
was as beautiful as its approach. On the towers, steeples, 
and roofs of old tiled and stuccoed churches, shrubbery, 
grass, and moss could be seen growing luxuriantly where- 



Para 



247 



ever it had taken root. Again, the hght-colored bnikhngs 
stood out in strong rehef against the green background. 

Darkness overtook us before we were far enough out 
in the river to be safe. Rocks and sand banks are so 




Sail Boat Market. The Sails Are of Many Bright Colors 

numerous that our cautious captain did not consider it 
wise to leave the course to the pilot at night. We an- 
chored until daylight and then carried the ])i]ot with us 
until about noon. We were in an artery of the largest 
ri\er in the world and out of sight of land, yet navigation 
was unsafe. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

j Barbados 

ENGLAND'S oldest island possession is "Los Barba- 
dos," or "The Bearded," the most healthful resort 
of the West Indies. From the wild fig trees hangs 
an occasional clump of vines that resembles an old man's 
beard. These trees have given the island its name. 
Though only one-tenth the size of Trinidad, Barbados has 
one-half its population. Nearly a quarter of a million 
people are crowded into shacks and huts. It is said to 
be the most thickly populated country in the world. Over 
it England has held undisputed sway since 1605. She 
is indebted to Barbados for giving valuable assistance in 
wars that were waged on other islands. 

For the building of the Panama Canal, Barbadian 
negroes furnish the best labor. These workmen have 
poured their savings into the purses of their families at 
home, sending back in all, a quarter of a million dollars 
gold in a single year. 

So crowded are the little, narrow, crooked streets at 
night that they are almost impassable. Everything is 
carried on the people's heads, where it is dexterously well 
balanced. This carefu.l balancing gives a stiffness to the 
knees which produces a peculiar stride. Large baskets 
of fruit and even chickens and pigs never disturb the 
equilibrium. One man balanced thus a well-stocked tin 



Barhadoes 



249 



and hardware shop. Large jars, containing weakly flav- 
Dred summer ch'inks, are carried on the heads of venders. 
When drinks are ordered by the thirsty passer-by, they 
are served, not by lowering the jar, but by skillfully 
pouring out the drink while the balance is maintained. 




HU II. F. L(:-.h 



Divers Watching for Coins 



Street scer.es and native life are fascinating. W'cll- 
shaded roads are lined on each side with large mahoganies 
and banyan trees. Fields of varied hue are made pictur- 
es(|uc and fragrant with tro])ical Howers and shrubs. 
.Some places seem beaiuifnl duh' from an a])i)r()aching 



250 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



steamer. Closer inspection adds charm to this coral 
island with its many reefs. Coral rock makes very serv- 
iceable and attractive roads. 




By .l//,s.s ,1/ 



Bird and Jjurden Bearers 



Durino- the busy season on sng'ar plantations male labor 
brings less than a shilling a day. Native policemen re- 
ceive sixteen dollars a month and are provided with a 



Barbadocs 251 

uniform. Women are paid fifteen cents a day for carry- 
ing coal. They may be seen in great numbers at the 
docks where ships are coahng. Not much shoe leather 
is consumed by either men or women, for their feet are 
seldom covered. ^\>ll groomed Englishmen knock 
elbows with ragged negroes. 

After our morning's drive we lunched at the popular 
J\Iarine Hotel. It is near the beach and is easily reached 
by tram. In the afternoon we visited the points in and 
about the city. 

Queen's Park is small and modern in appearance. In 
a building near the Governor's Gate the general lived 
when the troops were established on the island. This 
building is now used for amusements. The old barracks 
are rented to civilians. Much dissatisfaction is expressed 
by the negroes concerning the removal of the troops. It 
threw many men out of emplo3''ment. The Savannah 
was the former parade ground for the garrison. Now 
it is the playground for polo, cricket, tennis, and croc[uet. 

Trafalgar Square passes well for an imitation of a bit 
of old England. Nelson's statue is in keeping with the 
general plan and is the first one ever erected to his mem- 
ory. The public buildings, all of coral rock, are located 
here. 

Near this center, on Constitution Street, is the Angli- 
can Cathedral, St. Michaels, built from money raised by 
lotteries. Directly in front of the choir, and in the cen- 
ter aisle, is a burial slab which bears the date 1665. It 
is the oldest in the church. Next to it is the slab of 
Colonel Sliarp. who donated the land for the ])uil(ling of 
the cathedral. 



252 Sight-Seeing in South America 

A new Salvation Army building, also constructed of 
coral rock, is the best building- in that vicinity. It is a 
great credit to their work on this island. 

A magnificent Carnegie library, supported by a govern- 
ment grant, contains about twenty-five thousand volumes. 

On the water front the slaughter house and market are 
combined. Most of the shopping is done here on Satur- 
day morning, about five o'clock. 

One of the places best patronized by tourists is the 
"Self Help," located not far from the landing. This 
institution is supported by the ladies for the benefit of 
the needy. The name is well chosen. Souvenirs of all 
kinds are for sale and refreshments are served at aston- 
ishingly low prices--two scrambled eggs, three cents ; 
sandwiches of chopped meat, lettuce, and mayonnaise 
dressing, three cents : delicious ices, eight cents ; and all 
else in proportion — a strong contrast to the high prices in 
South America. 

Some of us went to Green Hill, a distance of six miles, 
where a statue of a huge lion has been carved out of the 
solid rock. Its elevation of seven hundred and thirty 
feet commands an excellent view of the surrounding par- 
ishes. This lion was sculptured by Colonel Wilkinson 
and his fellow officers, in 1868, while encamped on this 
spot. 

Hastings, a nearbv attractive watering place, noted for 
its fine surf bathing, is easily reached by tram or carriage. 

Sugar is the staple product of this island. Barbados is 
the first place in British territory where sugar was 
planted. Our visit to the Tiank Hill estate, where there is 
a full-sized sugar mill, brought us to a picturesque 



Barbadoes 253 

scene. ( )1(1 Dutch wind mills stand out very strikingly 
against the open sky. They are much used for grinding- 
cane. This one dates back to 1729. Sugar cane is treated 
in a very simple way and by a cheap process. These old 
Dutch windmills add much not only to the quaintness and 



Sui^ar Cane and Mill 

attractiveness of the scenery, but to the efficiency of 
indusirw They furnish power for rolling and crushing 
the cane. After the liquid has been extracted from this 
ground cane, or magass, the refuse cane is dried and used 
for fuel. l'"nim the mill the juice, which is se\-ent\- i)er 
cent, water. i> ])nmped u]) to the bniHng h(in>e, whert' it 



254 Sight-Seeing in South America 

is conducted to large copper boilers and heated. When 
the boiling point is reached, lime is put in to carry the 
impurities to the surface. The pure syrup is known as 
crack liquor. Here the liquid extract is converted into 
molasses and crude sugar, most of which is shipped to 
the United States. 

Trade with the United States is extensive. This is 
shown by the universal use of American money, which 
is accepted even at the post office. In our own Philip- 
pines our coins are not accepted. To coin a money for 
the Filipinos was one of our gigantic mistakes. In 
Barbados the price of street car tickets is marked, not 
in pence, but in cents. This island imports more from 
the United States than it exports to the United States, 
and they do much more busiaiess with us than they do 
with England. 

In an automobile, we visited the principal points of 
interest on the island. This can easily be done in a day. 
We went to Belle Vue, a suburb containing many mag- 
nificent residences, and from here past the insane asylum 
and the Lazaretto to Holetown, near which are large 
groves of mahogan3^ Northward along the coast we 
journeyed to Speightstown. Leaving to the left the 
romantic hills of volcanic origin, known as Scotland, the 
loute led eastward through the coral territory of St. 
Andrew's parish, and into the primeval forest in which 
scores of native monkeys live. At the headquarters of 
the Petroleum Company are several derricks. At depths 
of five hundred feet some oil is obtained. 

Continuing the ascent. Mount Hillaby was reached. 
Here, at an altitude of eleven hundred feet, the Atlantic 



Borbadoes 



255 



appears on one side and the Caribbean on the other. A 
steep descent leads to Bathsheba, on the east side of the 
island near a long and beautiful line of surf. Another 
ascent from here leads to St. John's Church. Here 
Fernando Paleologus. the last descendant of the Greek 
emperors of Con:-tantinople, lived and served for twenty 
years in St. John's vestry. He died in 1678. 




A Saturday Afternoon in Georgetown 

From this ]K)int a charming road leads to Codrington 
College, iw'o hundred feet above sea level. It was 
founded in 1710 by Governor Codrington. Its gardens 
contain thirty varieties of palms, including a tine specimen 
of the traveler's palm and a cabbage i)alm, ])lanted by 



256 Sights ceing in South America 

George V., now King of England. Here also are several 
evergreen oaks. 

About ten miles distant, on Oistins Bay, is Christ 
Church, where George Washington worshiped in 1751. 
Barbados is the only place outside of the United States 
ever visited by Washington. One mile from the church, 
in a house now occupied by Robert Batson, Washington 
spent several months with his brother Lawrence. This 
stately building is beautifully located. In the middle of 
the eighteenth century it had three stories. A tornado 
destroyed the top one in 1831. Antique furnishings still 
remain in the house. 

In Christ Church cemetery, a strange event occurred in 
1820. A tomb with a slanting top stands four feet from 
the ground. Here, official record states, several coffins had 
been removed from their original place in a mysterious 
way. Marks were made in the vault which would have 
been effaced if any person had attempted to enter, but 
they were found as left when opened nine men lis la'.er. 
So frequently were these coffins moved, after the tomb 
had been carefully sealed to prevent any disturbance by 
man, that superstition prevailed throughout the entire 
parish. As a result, the bodies were taken away from 
this haunted tomb and to-day it is empty. 

After visiting this dismal place and hearing the grue- 
some story, our party hastened back to the noisy streets 
of Bridgetown. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Panama. 

FROM Barbadoes to Panama was a pleasant sail of 
three days through the Caribbean Sea. and along 
the Spanish ]^Iain. This region is haunted with 
the memories of the privateers, freebooters, and bucca- 
neers, who once preyed upon Spanish commerce. 

As we approached Colon, there was general rejoicing 
among the party, that we were soon to be again in Amer- 
ican territory. Appreciating this feeling, the captain ran 
up the Stars and Stripes to the mast-head, when we en- 
tered the harbor, but as the Colon dock happens to be 
out of the canal zone, the Panama port authorities 
stopped the ship and compelled the captain to replace our 
flag with the unique and bright two-starred flag of the 
doughty little Republic of Panama. 

Balboa first crossed the isthmus and discovered the 
Pacific Ocean. Tlis career was stranger than that of a 
hero of fiction, lie landed at Panama within eight years 
after Columbus had discovered America. Then he went 
to llispaniola and settled down as a farmer. Mere he 
became indebted. To evade his creditors and to avoid 
imprisonment, he concealed himself in a cask and was 
carried on board a shi]) and escaped back to the isthmus. 
I le next married the daughter of a native chief. I tearing 
ilial he was t(j be recalled to Spain, he decided to make 



258 Sights ceing in South America 

a great discovery to gain the good will of the king, so he 
organized an expedition to penetrate the interior. On 
this in 1513, he discovered the Pacific Ocean. He at 
once planned to explore it. His men carried anchors, 
rigging, and timbers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
over torrents and clififs, through forests and jungles with 
infinite labor, and constructed ships upon the Pacific. 
The king, learning of his discoveries, conferred honors 
upon him. The governor, Pedrarias, however, was jeal- 
ous, and upon Balboa's refusal to cast aside his Indian 
wife and marry the governor's daughter, Pedrarias 
treacherously tempted him back from an expedition upon 
the Pacific to Adas, where Pedrarias forced a judge to 
condemn him to death, and Balboa was executed vipon the 
public scjuare. Thus miserably perished one of the 
greatest of discoverers. 

From the time that Balboa discovered the Pacific, men 
sought to find or to construct a passage from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific. Believing that there was a natural water- 
way, the early explorers, including Magellan, Pizarro, 
Cortez, and De Soto, coasted up and down both shores in 
search of it. 

While the explorers were hunting for this channel be- 
tween the two oceans, Pedrarias founded in 1519 old 
Panama, and had constructed a well-paved road across 
the isthmus. Remains of this road can still be ?een. 
Over this road were carried the riches of the Incas from 
Peru. 

A canal across the isthmus was early proposed. Be- 
fore even the founding of old Panama, a Spanish engi- 
neer, Saavedra, one of Balboa's followers, made plans 



Panama 259 

for the construction of an isthmian canal. For the fol- 
lowing four centuries, the building of the canal has occu- 
pied the thought of the world. Spain, Portugal, England, 
and France in turn, have attempted it and have aban- 
doned it. 

One of the curious features of this canal project was 
that Philip II., of Spain, sent an engineer to survey a 
route, and upon his reporting that the scheme was im- 
practical, the king referred the whole problem to some 
Dominican friars. They searched the Bible for light on 
the subject, and finding the verse, "What God hath joined 
together, let no man put asunder,'' directed the king's 
attention to it. The monk monarch concluded that this 
IHblical passage was applicable and issued an edict, that 
no man under penalty of death, should attempt to sep- 
arate the continents. 

Many famous men have been connected with the canal 
project. William Paterson, of Scotland, founder of the 
Bank of England, in 1698, was at the head of a company 
which sent out twelve hundred colonists to the isthmus 
and founded New Edinburg and New St. Albans, near 
Adas, where Balboa was executed, with the hope that 
they would build the canal. In a few years the colony 
was abandoned. 

Lord Nelson, in 1780, led an expedition to Nicaragua 
to seize its lakes and to control the interoceanic route. 
Iluniboldt s]ient some years in the canal region and wrote 
much in favor of a canal. 

Goethe, commenting upon 1 lunijjoldt's a(lvocac\' of it, 
made the following interesting ])re(liction in lSi~: "lUit 
1 sliould wonder if the L'nited States were to let an op- 



260 Sight-Seeing in South America 

portnnity escape of getting" such a work into their own 
hands. It may be foreseen that this young State, with 
its decided predilection to the West, will, in thirty or forty 
years, have occupied and peopled the large tract of land 
beyond the Rocky Mountains. It may, furthermore, be 
foreseen that along the whole coast of the Pacific Ocean, 
where nature has already formed the most capacious and 
secure harbors, important commercial towns will grad- 
ually arise, for the fvu'therance of a great intercourse be- 
tween China and the East Indies, and the United States. 
In such a case it would be not only deairable, but almost 
necessary that a more rapid communication should be 
maintained between the eastern and western shores of 
North America, both by merchant ships and men-of-war, 
than has hitherto been possible with the tedious, disagree- 
able, and expensive voyage around Cape Horn. I there- 
fore repeat that it is absolutely indispensable for the 
United States to effect a passage from the ^lexican Gulf 
to the Pacific Ocean, and I am certain that they will 
do it." 

In 1825, President Bolivar, of New Granada, gave a 
concession to a Frenchman for the canal's construction. 

About 1825, the United States first became inlierested 
in the Ixiilding of a canal, and in 1835, Henry Clay intro- 
duced a resolution into the Senate, directing an investi- 
gation, to see if a canal co^uld be constructed. President 
Andrew Jackson then sent Charles P>iddle to ^^tudy the 
field. He reported favorably upon the Panama route, 
but nothing tangible resulted. 

In 1848, the government of New Granada gave to Mr. 
Aspinwall and associates, the exclusive right, dating 



Panama 261 

from 1867, to build a canal or railroad. Jn 1857. they 
completed the railroad from Colon to i'anania. The de 
Lesseps Canal Company and the I'nited States Govern- 
ment in turn have boug'ht the rijii'hts and concessions of 
this railroad. For years, over the railroad across the 
canal, the tirst-clae-s fare was $25. It is now $2.40. The 
railroad for forty-two years averaged about fifteen per 
cent, dividends to the stockholders. 

\\'hile the United States was discussing the canal ques- 
tion, Louis Xapoleon Bonaparte in 1846, then a State 
prif-oner, became an enthusiastic advocate of the canal, 
and promised the French Government that if it would 
release him, that he would go to Panama and trouble 
France no more. The government refused him liis free- 
dom, but soon he escaped from prison and reached Lon- 
don. In two years, by a revolution in France, he became 
president and then emperor. Greater affairs of state 
prevented him from following up his canal plans. 

In 1878, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez 
Canal, organized a company for the construction of a sea 
level canal, with a tunnel through the continental divide 
at Culeljra. This company bought the Panama railway 
at an excessive figure. In 1889, the company became 
bankrupt. Over $260,000,000 had been spent, or squan- 
dered. The Xew Panama Canal Company succeeded it. 
It sold out all of its interests to the Ignited States (gov- 
ernment for $40,000,000. Ihc I'rench began work on 
the canal in k'ebruary, 1881. It inaugurated the canal 
by a ])lay by Sarah Pernhardt, \vho had come fr(^m 
I'raiice for that ])urp()se. in tlie little Panama theater. 



262 Sight-Seeing in South America 

The canal policy of the United States has been vacil- 
lating. In 1850, it signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 
with England, by which it agreed "that neither the one 
nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any 
exclusive control over the ship canal ; agreeing that 
neither will ever erect or maintain any fortifications com- 
manding the same." 

President Grant, in 1869, stated, "I regard it as of vast 
political importance to this country that no European 
government should hold such a work." 

President Hayes asserted the xA.merican policy more 
vigorously in a message to the Senate, saying: "The pol- 
icy of this country is a canal under American control. 
The United States .cannot consent to the surrender of 
this control to any European powers." He suggested the 
abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. 

In 1881, Congress adopted a joint resolution for the 
abrogation of the obnoxious Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. Be- 
fore it was accomplished, Grover Cleveland became Pres- 
ident, and he immediately reversed the policy of his prede- 
cessors, saying, "Whatever highway may be constructed 
acro'^s the barrier dividing the two greatest maritime 
areas of the world, must be removed from the chance of 
domination of any single power." 

President Cleveland's policy was reversed by his suc- 
cessors, and in 1901, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was ab- 
rogated by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. Among its pro- 
visions and limitations are the following: 

"I. The high contracting parties agree that the pres- 
ent treaty shall supersede the aforementioned (Clayton- 
Bulwer) convention of April 19, 1850. 



Panama 263 

"II. It iis agreed that the canal may be constructed 
nnder the auspices of the government of the United 
States either directly at its own cost, or by gift or loan of 
money to individuals or corporations, or through sub- 
scription to or purchase of stock or shares, and that, sub- 
ject to the provisions of the present treaty, the said Gov- 
ernment shall have and enjoy all the rights incident to 
such construction, as well as the exclusive right of pro- 
viding for the regulation and management of the canal. 

"III. The United States adopts as the basis of the 
neutralization of such ship canal the following rules sub- 
stantially as embodied in the convention of Constanti- 
nople, signed the 28th of October. 1888, for the free 
navigation of the Suez Canal ; that is to say, 

"First. The canal shall be free and open to the vessels 
of commerce and of war of all nations observing these 
rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall 
be no discrimination against anv such nation or its citi- 
zens or subjects in respect to the conditions or charges 
of traffic, or otherwise. Such conditions and charges 
of traffic shall be just and equitable. 

"Second. The canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall 
any right of war be exercised, nor any act of hostility 
be committed within it. The United States, however, 
shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along 
the canal as may be necessary to protect it against law- 
lessness and disorder." 

The final building of the canal was authorized in 1902. 
Congress then adopted the Spooner law. directing Presi- 
dent Roosevelt to construct a canal al ranania if lie 
could make a suitable treat \- with C< )l(iiiil)ia. and Cduld 



264 Sight-Seeing in South America 

buy the French rights for $40,000,000, and if not, to build 
a canal across Nicaragua. Colombia rejected the treaty 
overtures, when its state of Panama seceded and its inde- 
pendence was recognized at once by the United States. 
With the new Republic a satisfactory treaty was made 
at once. 

That treaty provides, among other things, for a canal 
zone of ten miles in width, five miles on either side of 
the center of the canal to belong to the United States. 
The cities of Colon and Panama are excepted from the 
zone, but the United States has the right to enforce san- 
itary and police regulations in both cities. The United 
States guarantees the independence of the little Republic, 
which has an area about equal to that of Maine, with a 
mixed population of less than half a million. The 
United States paid to Panama for the concessions 
$10,000,000 with a further provision to pay her $250,000 
yearly after the expiration of nine years. 

The Panama declaration of independence of November 
the 4th, 1903, begins with big words for a little Republic. 
A sentence will give an idea of the lofty style of Pana- 
manian eloquence. 

"The transcendental act that by a spontaneous move- 
ment the inhabitants of the Isthmus of Panama have 
just executed, is the inevitable consequence of a situation 
which has become graver daily." 

Immediately after making the treaty with the Republic 
of Panama, the United States vigorously began work on 
the canal. As a preparation they undertook with success 
the sanitation of the isthmus. Large sums of money 
were expended in cleaning and sewering the cities of 



Panama 265 

Colon and Panama ; in draining swamps, and in exterm- 
inating the mosquito that carries yellow fever. 

A few general facts in regard to the canal are inter- 
esting. The length of the canal from deep water to 
deep water, is about fifty miles of which fifteen miles is 
at sea level. In entering from the Atlantic, a vessel will 
sail up the canal about seven miles to the Gatun locks. 
Here it will enter a tier of three locks and be lifted 
eighty-five feet to the level of Gatun Lake. It will then 
proceed at full speed through the lake for a distance of 
twenty-four miles to Bas Obispo, where it will enter the 
Culebra Cut. It will pass through the cut for a distance 
of about nine miles in a channel with a bottom width of 
three hundred feet, to Pedro Miguel. Here it will enter 
a lock and be lowered thirty feet to a small lake and will 
pass through this for about a mile and one-half to Mira- 
tlores. Here it will enter two locks and be lowered to 
sea level, and then pass into the Pacific through a channel 
about eight and one-half miles in length. 

The tide on the Atlantic is two and one-half feet and 
on the Pacific twenty-one feet, so the Pacific channel will 
therefore be deeper. In Culebra Cut the depth will be 
forty-five feet and the minimum bottom width of the 
canal will be three hundred feet. 

The Gatun Dam w'hich blocks the Chagres River is a 
small artificial hill. It covers about four hundred acres 
and is a mile and one-half long at its to]). It is about 
one hundred feet wide at the top and about one-half 
mile wide at the bottom. Its top is one hundred and 
fifteen feet aboA'e the sea level and about thirty feet above 
the normal level of ihe lake. Tliis dam is not as large 



Panama 267 

as other dams that have been constructed in the United 
States. The lake formed by the dam will cover about one 
hundred and sixty-four square miles. 

There are six double locks in the canal ; three pairs 
in tiers at Gatun. one pair at Pedro Miguel, and two 
pairs at Miraflores. The usable dimensions of all are 
1,000 feet in length and 110 feet in width. The lock 
gates are of steel, each leaf 7 feet thick, 65 feet long, 
and from 47 to 82 feet high. They \veigh from 300 to 
600 tons each. Intermediate gates are used in the locks 
so as to divide the locks into chambers 600 and 400 feet 
long. In the construction of the locks it is estimated that 
400,200,000 cubic yards of concrete and an equal num- 
ber of barrels of cement will be used. 

Vessels will not be permitted to pass through the locks 
under their own power, but will be towed by electric 
locomotives on the tops of the walls. 

The locks will be filled through a system of culverts, 
the main culverts being about the size of the Hudson 
River tunnels of the Pennsylvania railroad. The aver- 
age time of filling and emptying a lock wMill be about 
fifteen minutes. The time required to pass a vessel 
through all the locks will be about three hours and 
the time of passage of a vessel through the canal will 
be from ten to twelve hours. 

Three devices have been used to make the canal safe. 
There are two gates at the upper and two gates at the 
lower end of each lock. Then there is a heavy chain 
stretched across the ends of the locks near the siu-face 
of the water and p.'is^ed around caji^-'tans on the walls. 
This works autouiaticalh and wlieii not in use the chains 



268 Sights ceing in South America 

lie in grooves in the floors of the lock. Serious acci- 
dents to the locks and gates are provided against also 
by movable dams above the upjier gates. Each dam con- 
sists of a swinging drawbridge from which wicket girders 
can be lowered, the upper ends being separated by a 
bridge, and the lower ends by a groove in the bottom 
of the lock. These wicket gates will be lowered horizon- 
tally, one at a time and will gradually diminish the area 
of the waterway. It will recjuire about an hour to block 
the water with these dams. All of these safety devices 
have been used separately and successfully in other locks 
but in no other locks have all been used. In other words, 
greater precautions for safety are taken, in these locks 
than in any others. .These locks are the largest that have 
ever been built. The lock gates will be operated by elec- 
tricit}^ generated from the water power at the spillway 
of the Gatun Dam. The gates and valves will be oper- 
ated by electricity. 

The canal will be valuable not only for commercial, 
but also for military purposes. In case of war, it is 
estimated that the canal will be worth at least twenty 
battleships for our nation. Although its neutrality is 
guaranteed, the temptation of some other nation to 
violate the laws of neutrality in war, is so great, that an 
adequate fortification of the canal is necessary. The 
United States is therefore erecting forts for its pro- 
tection. 

Comparison is often made between the Panama Canal 
and the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal is a sea level canal, 
104 miles long. Work was begun on it in 1860. and it 
was opened to commerce in 1869. The excavation was 



Panama 269 

mostly throug^h sand. The orig-inal depth was twenty- 
five feet, and the bottom width, seventy-two feet, and the 
deepest cutting was about eighty feet. Since the canal 
has been enlarged to a depth of thirty-four feet, but 
the authorized draft of vessels passing through it is 
twenty-seven feet. The steamship Cleveland, of the 
Hamburg-American Line, on its cruise around the world 
was the largest ship that had ever passed through this 
canal. The average time of the passage is eighteen hours. 
The annual dividends on the canal, for it is a private cor- 
poration, amount to about tw'enty-five per cent. The 
British Government owns a large amount of the stock. 
The cost of the canal with enlargements is about $102,- 
000,000 against $400,000,000 of the Panama Canal. 

The Kiel Canal constructed by the German Govern- 
ment and connecting the l>altic and North seas, crossing 
the northern part of Germany, is longer than the Panama 
Canal. It is 61 miles long, 29^^ feet deep and 72 feet 
wide at the bottom. It was begun in 1887, and completed 
in 1895, and cost $40,000,000. 

As we approached the landing at Colon, we observed 
two great breakwaters guarding the Atlantic entrance 
to the canal. From the dock at Colon, we at once took 
a special train for Panama. On the left-hand side of the 
road, we soon saw the bed of the old French canal which 
seemed like a mere pigmy compared with ours. We had 
not gone far when we came to Mount Hope where 35,000 
bodies are buried. They represent a part of the cost of 
the canal. I'he same number that lied^eneath the stxl are 
now employed u])()n the canal. ■ ■ 



270 Sight-Sceing in South America 

Jungles of banana palms and vast thickets of vegetation 
have been cleared away on each side of the track. Men 
are constantly engaged in cutting away the underbrush 
and in, pouring oil into the burned borders of rivulets. 
Our first stop was at Gatun locks. The railroad is on the 
side opposite the dam. Everything at Gatun is concrete. 
Stone is made so rapidly that one can see it grow. This 
is the concrete age. Material for ancient monuments was 
brought from afar. Instead of transporting it we make 
it. Some one hasi figured that the cement used in the 
canal and locks would make a side-walk nine feet wide 
and six inches thick, reaching more than twice around 
the globe. 

From the Gatun locks we took the train along the edge 
of what will be the Gatun Lake. About half way between 
Colon and Panama, is Gargona, a construction town, the 
largest in the canal zone. When the canal is opened the 
town will be seven feet under water. 

On the right near Natachin is Cerro Gigante, from the 
crest of which Balboa in 1513 first saw the Pacific. 

Another stop of about an hour was made at Culebra 
Cut, where we had the opportunity of descending to the 
bottom of the future waterway. Here the engines have 
eaten away a mountain 312 feet high and nine miles in 
length. Such a mixture of tracks, men, engines, and ma- 
chines has never before been brought together in one 
place. Here are machines that lift a whole railway, track, 
rails, ties, and move it to a new position, also wrecking 
trains that lift one hundred tons. Ninety-five ton shovels 
with large dippers remove rocks containing as much as 
six cubic yards. These shovels load the material on dirt 



272 Sight-Seeing in South America 

trains that haul it to the breakwater between Balboa and 
Naos Island. 

In this cut is a board ten or twelve feet long. It marks 
the French level, about 161 feet below the surface. 

At Culebra Cut, one only begins to realize the amount 
of excavation necessary for the canal. The amount of 
material taken out by the two other Panama Canal com- 
panies was 78,146,960 cubic yards of which it is esti- 
mated 29,908,000 cubic yards are utilized in the present 
canal. The total excavation for the canal is estimated 
at over 225,000,000 cubic yards. The work accomplished 
in Culebra Cut by the French was a deep, narrow cut at 
Gold Hill, of 140 feet, which left an additional cut of 153 
feet to be made for the present canal. 

One of the engineers of the canal took us to the lower 
level of the cut, where we witnessed what had been called 
a volcanic eruption. A little steam and smoke were issu- 
ing from the side of the cut. It was simply a chemical 
reaction caused by the slacking of rock. The engineer 
told us that he had found sharks' teeth 125 feet below 
the French level, confirming the theory that once the 
two oceans met. 

Colonel George W. Goethals has practically absolute 
authority in the canal zone. His residence is a large 
frame building with screened porches on the top of the 
hill at Culebra near the administration building. 

All along the road, French junk may be seen on 
either side. Recently several hundred thousand dollars 
worth was sold as old iron, but what has been hauled 
away makes little impression on the great junk piles. 
Everywhere old engines and tanks projected from the 



Paiiaiiia 



273 



surface. Many of them remain just as the French left 
them. 

The railroad track is laid on ties of hard wood broui^ht 
from Colombia. At the cut we passed the pay car from 
which is paid out about one and one-half million dollars 
per month. This road handles 180 trains a (lav. mostlv 
nig"ht freiii^'ht. Soon after leaving- Culebra Cut we passed 




Tivoli Uotel 

the Pacific slo]ie locks and arrived at the station in 
J'anania. A short distance above the station is the lar,;e 
government hotel, Tivoli. al which we had a \er\- i^dod 
trfi])ical lunch. 

The cit_\- of Panama has about vX^.O(T) inhabitants. It is 
built on risiaig- ground around the haw The streets are 
narrow and crooked. The houses are mosth- two and 



274 Sight-Sceing in South America 

three stories high; the upper stories projecting. The gen- 
eral appearance is European and ahiiost Oriental. The 
main business street winds from the railway station down 
to the sea wall at the bay. Upon the streets are many 
Chinese and Japanese curio shops. Panama is a meeting 
place for all nationalities. The better residences are built 
in the old Spanish style around a patio. The new city 
of Panama is venerable for it was founded in 1673. The 
buildings suggest age. 

There are a number of small squares, the most impor- 
tant being the Plaza de la Cathedral and the Plaza Santa 
Anna. The Plaza de la Cathedral is the real center of 
the city. Upon it is the stately old cathedral with its 
towers roofed with mother-of-pearl. Next to the cathe- 
dral is the Bishop's palace with the office of the Panama 
Lottery Company on the ground floor. Facimg the square 
is the city hall, the canal administration building and sev- 
eral large stores. The Government House is several 
blocks away and looks out upon the Bay of Panama. 

Old Panama is about five or six miles distant to the 
north. After its destruction by the Welsh buccaneer, 
Henry Morgan, in 1673, new Panama was founded and 
protected by a heavy wall. Much of this old wall still 
remains. It was built by Spain and is said to have cost 
about fifteen million dollars. The king of Spain re- 
marked that the walls cost enough to be visible from the 
palace at Madrid. There is a fine promenade along the 
wall by the sea, from which one can look ofif across the 
bay to the Pacific, (^ne portion of the wall still forms 
a part of the prison. During a storm or high tide, some 
of the cells are partially filled with water. They are 



Panama 275 

directly under the sea wall and there may also still he 
seen the slightl\- elevated platform where prisoners once 
lined up for execution. Uack of the platform the prison 
wall prevented the shots from going astray. It is riddled 
with bullet holes. 

Much of the new city of Panama was destroyed by fire 
in 1737. One church, however, San Felipe Neri, dates 
back to 1688. A girls' school has been built around its 
massive wall, for after ]\lorgan had destroyed the old 
city, even the churches were fortified. 

Some of the ancient navigation books mention the 
mother-of-pearl decorations of the tower of the cathedral 
which so glistened in the bright sunlight that thev direct- 
ed sailors far out at sea. They are still intact and are 
still especially bright after a rain. This cathedral, 
erected in 1760, was built from the private purse of the 
early Bishop of Panama. His father was a freed negro 
slave. 

Among the ruins of San Domingo Church there stands 
an old historic arch, well known as the flat arch. Do- 
minican monks built their own churches. Three times 
this arch fell when they removed the scaffolding. In 
the midst of their discouragement, one of the monks 
who was neither an architect nor a builder, announced 
that in a dream a new plan was suggested to him. 'I'o 
show his confidence in his dream and his plan, wlien 
the arch w;is once n;ore C()m])leted. he stood l)cnc'atli it 
when the sup]:)orts were removed. Here it stands to-dav, 
the longest flat arch in the world. From an architectural 
viewpoint, a hea\\ weight over such an arch is necessar\- 
for its own sni)i)ort. This one has no such weight, ll 



276 



Sight-Seeing in South America 



is in the earthquake zone and 3'et it stidl stands. When 
one speaks of earthquakes, the residents point to the flat 




By Mt-^ Muiy Mun-<jii 

The BroaduilfJ-'latTArch in the World 

arch. The owner of the ground upon wdiich the arch 
stands, is trying to sell it, to he removed and put up at 
the San Francisco Exposition. 



Panama 277 

When we asked our driver as to the age of the arch 
he rephed five hundred years. We reminded hini that 
America was not cHscovered then, l)ut that did not shake 
his faith in the ag'e of the arch. The colored carriage 
drivers hke to furnish information that will kee]) up the 
interest of the occupants of their carriages. They do 
not let facts spoil a story. 

One can go from the city of Panama to Balhoa and 
return by carriage for one dollar. Balboa is at the 
Pacific entrance to the canal. It is necessary to visit 
this busA' dock in order to get an idea of the immense 
amount of business done at Panama. Onlv after such 
a visit can one believe that 108.000 tons of freight are 
hauled over the Panama railroad in a single month. I'e- 
yond Balboa is the island of Xaos, where fortifications 
are being built. The breakwater protecting the entrance 
is visible from the dock. A pass is necessary to visit 
this busy place, which can be secured from the superin- 
tendent on the grounds. 

At the end of the dock, which is a half mile in length, 
is an old French hand crane which has been converted 
into an electric crane by the Americans. The dock is all 
a part of the old French works. Here shipping clerks, 
time-keepers, and laborers work like b<'avers. In some 
places it is difficult tn make one's wav thrdugh ihe ])l()ck 
of freight being transferred from boat to rail. (ireat 
quantities of goods are alw;i\-s being shi])])ed froiu Cali- 
fornia to Xew ^'(lrk. to be lr;insferred b\- rail from 
Balboa to Colon. 

Mosquitoes have lieen ])raclicall\- exterminated on the 
isthmus. Flies are few exce])t in tbr slums. i-"\-er\- 



278 Sight-Seeing in South America 

morniing the oil brigade starts out in each division to 
spray the swamps and waterways. This oil destroys the 
mosquitoes, the dread fever carriers. Huge oil pipes are 
observed in many places. To maintain the healthy con- 
dition of the isthmus will require constant vigilance. It 
is estimated that it will cost half a million dollars a year 
to keep the canal region free from yellow fever and 
other contagious tropical diseases. 

The locomotives on the railroad burn oil. One lady 
wearing glasses all day to keep coal dust and cinders 
from her eyes, was very much disgusted when she learned 
after returning to Colon that the engines were oil burn- 
ers. 

We returned to Colon and to our ship the same night. 
There is little of interest in Colon. A new Masonic 
building that will cost $100,000, is being constructed and 
also a beautiful hotel is being erected. 

About sundown we sailed away from Colon. It was 
interesting to note that the sun rises and sets at Colon 
later than it does at the city of Panama. In other words, 
the city of Panama on the Pacific Coast is east of Colon 
upon the Atlantic Coast so that when a vessel sails 
through the canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it 
will go in a southeastwardly rather than a westerly direc- 
tion. 

As Colon faded away in the distance it was natural 
to indulge in reflections. Since the construction of the 
Suez Canal, the Isthmus of Panama has been the greatest 
obstruction in the world to commerce. For centuries 
this little strip of land has been one of the strategic 
pomts of the world. Upon this, one of the smallest 



Panama 279 

of the American Republics, the eyes of the world have 
been centered. Some one has well said: "Since the days 
of Grecian glory, no such small strip of land as the Isth- 
mus of Panama has gained equal distinction. It has 
been the scene of stirring adventure, and the site of the 
wealthiest city in the world. It has been the subject of 
epoch-making diplomac}^ and a sphere of political dis- 
turbance. It is the seat of the greatest engineering enter- 
prise in history ; an enterprise which is destined largely 
to revolutionize the commerce of the world and more 
than any modern factor to influence the fortunes of 
nations." 

The absence of the American flag on the high seas 
was deeply impressed upon the minds of all. The only 
time that we saw the Stars and Stripes on our South 
American cruise, was in one of the ports where it graced 
a small private yacht, belonging to a party of Americans. 
This raised the discussion, "Shall our canal be to us 
only a naval highwav and coast defeupe ?" 

The canal must become a highway through which the 
Stars and Stripes on merchant vessels shall sail. Patri- 
otiic pride and a desire to see this and other highways 
of commerce open up markets for American goods, to 
be carried in American bottoms led the party to petition 
Congress to revise our navigation laws so as to ])enuit 
American ships to be built in the cheapest markets in the 
world. Congress has enacted since such a law. 

From Colon to Xew York was a five days' sail through 
pleasant seas. We passed near to Jamaica and between 
Cuba and Haiti and through the Rahamas. ( )no of the 
last islands that we saw was the low tlat islaml w ith a lew 



280 Sight-Sceing in South America 

trees now called Watling Island, but formerly known as 
San Salvador. TliiiS was the island that Columbus first 
discovered. To catch a glimpse of this first American 
island known to Europeans, seemed like an appropriate 
ending to our twenty-thousand-mile voyage around South 
America. 




Autopiano on Deck that Weathered the Voyage 

As we approached New York, there was a general 
regret at leaving the I'luecher. For eighty days at sea, 
and in port, it had been our home. It was a delightful 
home too. There was plenty of amusement and variety. 
Entertainments were many. Dances on deck were fre- 
quent and enjoyable. There was music most of the time. 
In the mornings and evenings the ship's band played on 
deck, while in the afternoons and evenings a very fine 



Panama 281 

orchestra gave concerts in the parlor. Between times, on 
deck, an antopiano that ^Ir. D. R. ^Martinez, foreign 
manager of Kohler & Campbell, piano manufacturers of 
Xew York, had brought with him for commercial selling- 
purposes, in the dififerent ports, furnished ragtime and 
other lively music. Strange to say, this instrument stood 
its long trip, through all climates, out on deck and with 
very little protection from the weather and with almost 
constant use, so well that when it reached Xew York, it 
seemed to be in about as good a condition as when it 
started. 

For those who liked more serious entertainment, there 
were sermons, lectures, and recitations, the various ladies 
and gentlemen in the partv contributing of their talents 
for the enjoyment of all. Especially delightful were sev- 
eral evenings on the voyage from \'alparaiso to Monte- 
video, when the Argentinians in the party sang and re- 
cited in Spanish and French. 

About a hundred Argentinians of culture and wealth 
joined the Bluecher at Buenos Aires and sailed on her 
around through the Straits of Magellan to \'alparaiso. 
Most returned by the Andean railway, but some came 
back by the ship. These Argentinians were so polite, 
cordial, and vivacious, that one of the i)leasantest features 
of the whole voyage was the opportunit\- of mingling 
with these citizens of the far Southern Republic. The 
.\ri;-entinian ladies in the ])art\' were handsomel_\- and sty- 
lishlv gowned, and extremely bright and attractive. 

When we arrived at Xew ^'ork. we discovered that 
nature had changed her ai)])earance since we had -mailed. 
We had left Xew ^'ork in the grij) of winter and -he was 



Panama 283 

now greeting" ns with tlie brightness of spring. As we 
roamed abont Xew York, this metropoHs of all the 
Americas seemed to be the most wonderful cit}- in the 
world. 

The striking' impressions brought back from the South 
American cruise were of the general cordiality that ex- 
ists in South America towards the great Republic of the 
Xorth, and the magnificent opportunities that will come 
for the extension of American commerce from the Oj^en- 
ing of the Panama Canal, and from the increased devel- 
opment of the natural resources of the Southern Conti- 
nent. For one who desires to feel the throb of the great 
South American commercial expansion, as well as to sail 
summer seas, and to visit interesting old Spanish and 
Portuguese cities, there is nothing more enjoyable than 
the cruise around South America. 



AppttihxK* 

From Valparaiso to Panama. 

UPON the completion of the Panama Canal, the 
South American cruise of the Hamburg-American 
steamship will undoubtedly be continued up the 
west coast to Panama. That will mean a saving of sev- 
eral thousand miles of sea travel, at least ten days of 
time and an opportunity to visit the ancient and historic 
cities of northern Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. 

This cruise up the west coast will be pleasant so far 
as the weather is concerned for there is an antarctic cur- 
rent that flows northward along the coast of Chile and 
Peru past the equator. This keeps the temperature at all 
times pleasant. The waves, too, on the southern Pacific 
are seldom high. For that reason the ships that frequent 
the coast are built with great open decks and with state 
rooms that open upon the decks much after the style of 
large river steamers. 

The completion of the canal will bring the west coast 
into easy communication with the great commercial 
world. The following figures giA^e an idea of how much 
the trade routes will be reduced by the finishing of the 
canal. 

From New York to Via Straits of Magellan Via Panama 

Guayaquil 10.423 2,864 

Callao 9,702 3,359 

Iquique 9,221 4,021 

Valparaiso 8.461 4,630 

The distance from Panama to New York is 1,960 miles. 



. Ippciidi.v 285 

The principal jDorts of Ecuador and I'eru then wih l)e 
closer to Xew York than Hamhurg- and IJrenien. The 
very high passenger rate upon the Pacific coasting" ves- 
sels will undoubtedly be greatly reduced. For instance, 
the steamship rate from (iuayacjuil to Panama, a distance 
of nine hundred miles, has been $99, or about twelve 
cents per mile, while the average Atlantic steamship rate 
is about three cents per mile. 

These coasting vessels usually have a very large barn- 
yard on board. They oftentimes also carry quite a num- 
ber of itinerant merchants who sell their wares from the 
boat's deck at different ports. They are rather slow, 
usually crowded, and not very pleasant for travel. 

The important ports in northern Chile are Co(|uiml)o, 
with a population of about seven thousand and at the 
northern end of the Chilean Central Railwa}' from \'al- 
paraiso, Antofagasta, If(ui(|ue, and Arica. the great 
nitrate ports of the world, which were captured from 
Peru in the war of 1877. 

Antofagasta is a city of about 16,000 inhabitants. The 
harbor is an open one and there is often difficult\- in 
landing. In the harbor are c|uite a number of birds 
and sea lions that furnish amusement to the >hii)s" 
passengers. The export trade of the cit\- is very large. 
There is a smelting works here for silver and the nre 
is often brought a long distance on the backs of burros 
and llamas. It is the sea])ort for a large ]xu"t of l'.oli\ia 
and northern C"hile. A great amount of nitrate is shi])])ed 
from here, ('hilc owns practically all of the nitrate 
fields of the world. 



286 Sight-Seeing in South America 

A narrow gauge railroad, two feet and six inches wide, 
runs from Antofagasta to Oruro, a distance of over six 
hundred miles, at an altitude of 12,000 feet where con- 
nection is made with the Bolivian railway to La Paz, a 
total distance of seven hundred and nineteen miles. A 
train de luxe, vestibuled, with sleeping and dining cars, 
runs once a week from Antofagasta to Oruro. In order 
to maintain the equilibrium of these very narrow cars, 
the berths are placed across the center. This train leaves 
Antofagasta on Monday evenings, reaches Oruro on 
Wednesday morning where it connects with the Bolivian 
train which arrives at La Paz in the evening. A branch 
line goes to Callahuasi at an altitude of 15,809 feet which 
is the highest point reached by any railroad. 

Iquique is about a day's run north of Antofagasto. 
and is a city of about 50,000 inhabitants and is the cen- 
ter of the nitrate trade. Chile places a heavy export duty 
upon nitrate so that a large amount of her taxes are 
raised from the nitrate exports. The most interesting 
place in Iquique is known as the Combination. It is the 
central office of the nitrate association where the differ- 
ent companies meet to arrange scales of prices and to 
regulate the output. A large amount of iodine is also 
shipped from this port. 

The whole north Chilean and Peruvian coast is rain- 
less and the country is a barren desert. Drinking water 
for these ports has to be brought a long distance from the 
interior. At the end of another day's sail is Arica, a small 
city of only several thousand inhabitants and the port of 
Tacna, the capital of the Chilean state of that name. 



Appendix 287 

Arica was once a city of abt)ut 30, COO inhaliitants, but 
earthquakes, pestilences, and wars have greatly reduced 
the population. In 1868, a great tidal wave some sixty 
feet high lifted two American men-of-war that were in 
the harbor and carried ihem o^■er the tops of houses and 
landed them about a mile inland. The Fredonia struck 
some rocks and was destroyed, all of her officers and 
crew being killed. The W'ateree was left lying upright 
on her keel in the sand wdiere she remained for many 
years. For sometime she was used, for a boarding house 
for the railroad employees, but was afterwards abandoned 
and gradually torn to pieces. A part of her skeleton still 
remains. 

At one end of the town is a great cliff with a stee]) 
front of 600 feet to the sea. In 1880, a bloody battle 
was fought here between the Chileans and Peruvians. 
The Peruvian commander, seeing his forces defeated, 
leaped over the rock and was dashed to pieces. He pre- 
ferred this to surrender. ]\[any of his troops followed 
him and their mutilated bodies were long exposed upon 
the rocks. Since leaping over rocks rather than sur- 
rendering is a South Sea Island and Indian custom, it is 
supposed that the Peruvian commander and soldiers must 
have been largely Indian. In Hawaii, armies have leajied 
over ])recipices. 

i'^-om Arica a road has been cmniik'ted li> La I'az. 
which will reducr llic dislance ti» tlie cai)ilal of j'.iilixia 
to 267 miles. It is ])artl\' a rack and i)inion railroad. 

TliL- ]iriiici])al i)on in southern Teru is Molleinlo. It 
is built on a rock about 100 feet above the sea. There 
is a high surf here and landing is often ver\- difticult. 



288 Sights ceing in South America 

A standard gauge railroad built by Americans runs from 
here to Arequipa, the second city in size in Peru. On 
the road from Mollendo to Arequipa can be seen many 
medanos which are crescent shaped sand hills that travel 
across the desert always maintaining their half-moon 
character. Oftentimes they are twenty feet high and 
sixty feet or more wide and when they reach the railroad 
track effectually block it. The ride from Mollendo 
to Arequipa is only about 100 miles, but it takes about 
seven hours, as the city has an altitude of about 7,500 
feet. The citv is guarded by two great mountain peaks. 
El Misti, which is an active volcano over 19,0C0 feet high 
and Chachani, over 20,000 feet high. Arec[uipa is a com- 
mercial center and is a good outfitting place for trips into 
the interior. 

Harvard University maintains an observatory here on 
account of the clear, rare air, for the purpose of photo- 
graphing the stars. The most imteresting building is the 
old Jesuit church, with its elaborate carvings and its mag- 
nificent altars. Arequipa has been celebrated for cen- 
turies as a city of learning and a literary center. The 
people, too, are very religious and the men attend church 
here with the same regularity and devotion as the women. 
On account of the earthquakes, the houses are mostly 
but one story high and the walls range from six to nine 
feet in thickness. No artificial heat is used in the houses 
although the temperature iis frequently below the freezing 
point. Heat is supposed to be unhealthy. 

The railroad from Mollendo through Arequipa extends 
to Lake Titicaca, the highest steamship navigated lake in 
the world. Its altitude is about 12,560 feet. The lake 



Appendix 289 

is as larg:e as Lake Ontario and has no visible outlet 
to the sea. Upon the lake there is a fleet of steamboats 
that were built in Scotland and were brought knocked 
down in small pieces up the mountain railroad from }kIol- 
lendo and assembled on the lake. The ride across the 
lake is 120 miles, where a train can be taken to La Paz 
sixty miles. 

La Paz is concealed in a gorge L200 feet deep, down 
the sides of which is a zig-zag electric railway about 
five miles long. 

La Paz with a population of about 70,000 is the actual 
capital of Bolivia, while Sucre is the legal capital. La 
Paz has an elevation of over 12.000 feet and is the high- 
est capital in the world. \Mth its mixed Indian popula- 
tion it is one of the most picturesque cities in the world. 
There are many old ruins of Lican temples and ]:ialaces. 
The principal square of the city is the Plaza Mayor, upon 
which face the cathedral, several centuries old with its 
finely carved facade, and the legislative and governor's 
palaces. There is also a museum rich in relics of tlic In- 
cas. 

About another day's ride north of Molk'ndi) is Callao, 
the port for Lima. As one sails along the west coast of 
South America, he is surprised at the great number of 
gulls, pelicans, and other kinds of sea birds. Trnvjinls 
sunset when they go to roost, the rocks and small islamN 
are black with them. 

From Callao to Lima is a ride of about six mi'cs on 
an electric car. Lima is the cai)ital of Peru and I'or 
centuries was the most important city oi South America. 
Its population is alxmt 200.0C0. The cit\- was t'otnidcil 



290 Sight-Seeing in South America 

by Pizarro in 1535. It was once a great city of Incas, 
and millions of dollars of gold and silver were carried 
away from the temples and palaces of the Incas by the 
early Spaniards. The churches, convents, and monaster- 
ies of Lima were the most costly in America, and ninety 
million dollars are said to have been invested in them 
by the early Spaniards. Several of the most imposing 
churches and monasteries have been preserved, but most 
of the others have been destroyed or have become badly 
dilapidated. Decay is everywhere in Lima. 

On the Plaza Mayor which is the heart of the old city, 
faces the cathedral, the palace of the Archbishop, and the 
government palace, which was the old palace of the vice- 
roys. In this palace Pizarro lived and in it he was assas- 
sinated. A little scjuare block of marble in the side en- 
trance of the palace at the foot of the staircase marks the 
spot on which Pizarro fell. He is said to have traced with 
his own blood the sign of the cross on the pavement 
and to have kissed it before he died. In the cellars are 
the old dungeons of the Spanish times. 

The cathedral is the richest in South America. It 
was consecrated in 1625, and the building was begun 
in 1536. Among the objects of interest in the cathe- 
dral is a painting of Alurillo, of A'eronica. Along 
the sides of the cathedral are dark, gloomy chapels with 
large grated doors. One contains the remains of Pizarro. 
The skeleton is seen in a glass case. It is articulated. 
The skin clings in lank folds to the bones. The toes 
have disappeared, and four of the teeth are gone. A glass 
jar beside his feet is said to contain his brains. In the 
same little chapel is a large altar of solid silver and an 



Appendix 291 

image of the Mrgin wearing a golden coronet which 
weighs several pounds. 

In the center of the Plaza is a bronze fountain erected 
in 1578. It is probably the oldest one in America. In 
this square auto de fe were held, Lima is full of churches 
and chapels, one of the finest being that of Santo Do- 
mingo, almost opposite the cathedral. In this chapel St. 
Rose, of Lima, was accustomed to pray. The chapel, 
near the entrance of the monastery, called Cavalry 
Chapel, is the one in which St. Rose is said to have had 
a vision of Christ and a slab with an inscription marks 
the place. At a side altar on the same side of the church, 
dedicated to St. Rose, her head and some of her bones 
are preserved in a gilded urn. 

St. Rose was born in Lima on April the 20th, 1586, in 
a house at the corner of Lima and Tacna streets, upon 
which site now" stands the little chapel of St. Rose. The 
main altar occupies the site of the room in which she 
was born. In the same church of Santo Domingo, in 
1553, was founded St. Mark's University by Philip II., 
It is the oldest university iu America. The Franciscan 
monastery is interesting on account of its wood carving. 

Another important square is that of the Plaza of P)oli- 
\ar whicli was formerly the Plaza of ln(|ui^ition. The 
senate building now stands where the house of In(|uisi- 
tion formerly was. 

The Callao, Lima, and ( )ruro Railroad. l)uili 1)\ the 
.American, llenry Meigs, is usiialh- called ihi.' highest 
railway in the world, although the l)ranch of the Antofa- 
gasta road now attains a greater height. Tlie ( )ruro 
road reaches an elevation of o\-i'r l,"^,(')f)() teet. A s\-stem 



292 Sight-Seeing in South America 

of switchbacks, the same as is employed on the mountain 
road in Darjihng, in India, is used instead of the rack 
and pinion rail. On account of the altitude of these 
South American mountain railroads which causes moun- 
tain sickness, compressed air is carried to furnish oxy- 
gen to the passengers. 

Callao was the last place over which the Spanish flag 
waved on the American Continent. As one sails north- 
ward from Callao towards the boundary line between 
Peru and Ecuador, the rainless region changes to the 
very rainy. 

Guayaquil with a population of about 50,000, is the 
chief port of Ecuador, and is located up the Guayas 
River, about thirty^five miles from the sea. At the wide 
mouth of the river is Puno Island, where Pizarro 
equipped his expedition against Peru. This river is the 
largest on the Pacific slope of South America. 

Guayaquil is a hot, damp, unhealthy town. In appear- 
ance it is a mixture of Italy, Spain, and the Orient. The 
houses are of one and two stories, and are built of spliced 
timbers and bamboos, and covered with mud, on account 
of the earthquakes. The upper stories of the buildings 
on the main street project, making an arcade like the 
ones in Chester, Berne, and on the Rue de Rivoli, Paris. 

The foreign commerce of Ecuador, which means 
equator, passes through this port, and amounts to about 
twenty million dollars annually. One-third of it is with 
the United States. The principal exports are rubber, 
cacao, vegetable ivory, and Panama hats. The best Pan- 
ama hats are made in this part of Ecuador, of torquilla 



Appciidi.v 293 

straw, which is taken from tlie leaves of a smah ])alin 
that grows in that region. 

Quito, the capital, is distant 297 miles, and is reached 
by a railway opened in 1908. Trains run only in the 
day-time, and two days are required for the trij) up this 
mountain railway. Quito has an altitude of about 9.300 
feet. Its population in the days of the Incas, numbered 
200,000, but it is now scarcely 50,000. Churches and 
convents are conspicuous, about one-fourth of the city 
being occupied and owned bv religious establishments. 
There are as many here proportionally, as in Rome. 
From Guayaquil to Panama is a ride of about two days. 



PasHpngrr ICtat an^ Jtinfrarit. 

Miss Amida Adolfson New York City, N. Y. 

Miss Marie C. Ahern New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. C. E. Albes Washington, D. C. 

Mr. Eugene M. Ambard New York City, N. Y. 

Dr. Elnardo de Andrada Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

Captain J. M. Andrews Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 

Olavo E. de Sonza Aranha Sao Paulo, Brazil 

Mr. F. Arias Washington, D. C. 

Mr. W. E. Aughinbaugh New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. G. E- Austin Westfield, Mass. 

Mrs. L. R. Babbitt Buenos Aires 

Mr. W. Ball Salt Lake City, Utah 

Mr. J. R. Barroll, Jr St. Louis, Mo. 

Mr. Alfred Batcheller Washington, D. C. 

Mr. Robert Batcheller Washington, D. C. 

Mr. and Mrs. George E. Bates San Francisco, Cal. 

Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Baxter Camden, N. J. 

Mr. and Mrs. John F. Beitel Nazareth, Pa. 

Mr. A. L. Bell New York City, N. Y. 

Mrs. E- J- Benedict San Francisco, Cal. 

Mr. W. S. Bickart Pittsburg, Pa. 

Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Bissell Waterville, N. Y. 

Miss Elizabeth Bissman Mansfield, Ohio 

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bissman Mansfield, Ohio 

Col. and Mrs. Henry F. Blount Washington, D. C. 

Miss Brass Westalton, Mo. 

Dr. A11)ert Brinkman Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Brown Toledo, Ohio 

Mr. Frank Brown Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. Walter H. Capen New York City, N. Y. 

Senator G. Casey Buenos Aires 

Luis P. Cauas Buenos Aires 

Mr. Edward Chaffin Cleveland, Ohio 

Mr. Charles H. Clark New York City, N. Y. 

Mrs. William E. Clark Washington, D. C. 

Mr. and Mrs. F. Lewis Clarke Spokane, Wash. 

Mr. E. T. Cole Gary, South Dakota 

Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Coon Paoli, Pa. 

Mr. and Mrs. C. Dana Corbin Chicago, 111. 

Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Cowles New York City, N. Y. 



Appendix 29: 



Miss Harriet Cowles New York City, N. \'. 

Mr. and Mrs. George K. Crocker St. Thomas, Ontario, Can. 

Miss Alice Crome Clinton, Mo. 

Mrs. Julia H. Crome Clinton, Mo. 

Mrs. Minnie D. Cross Peterboro, X. M. 

Mrs. C. H. Damon Lexington, Mass. 

Mrs. Allen Danforth Plymouth, Mass. 

Mr. D. P. Davis New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Theodore Dietrich Cincinnati, Ohio 

Mrs. Edmund J. Doering Chicago, 111. 

Elas L. Dubarry Buenos Aires 

Mrs. H. S. Dudley .Jamestown, N. Y. 

Mr. J. C. Duffield London, Ontario 

Mrs. C. F. Drury New York City, N. Y. 

Miss Lina Eddy Chicago, 111. 

Mrs. Clara M. Ehn San Francisco, Cal. 

Mrs. L. W. Elderkin Woodstock, 111. 

Mr. Horace G. Ely New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Earl A. Emerson Cincinnati, Ohio 

Mr. Alex. Essfeld .Ducsseldorf, Germany 

Mr. Henry Estinghausen St. Louis, Mo. 

Mr. Henry A. Everett Cleveland, Ohio 

Mr. W. D. Faris Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Mr. E- J. Farnhan Patten. Maine 

Miss Alice Farrell .Pittsburg, Pa. 

Miss Elizabeth I'arrell Pittsburg, Pa. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Farwell Chicago, 111. 

Mr. F. M. Federman Cleveland, Ohio 

Mr. R. A. Femery Buenos Aires 

Mr. and Mrs. George Frank Chicago, 111. 

Dr. Jacob Frank Chicago, 111. 

Mr. William G. Frizell Dayton, Ohio 

Miss Julia Fry Seattle, Wash. 

Miss Elizabeth Frocsch Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. and Mrs. George (rerdes Cincinnati, Ohio 

Mrs. Josephine Gerdes Cincinnati, Ohio 

Miss Dorothy Graves Los .\ngeles, Cal. 

Mrs. L. B. Graves Los .\ngeles, Cal. 

Miss Frances S. Gray New York City, X. ^'. 

Rev. and Mrs. George II. Grttnfu-ld F.lko, Nevada 

Mr. Edward J. Mall New York City, .\. V. 

.\lr. Daniel I'",. Ilallett Boston, Mass. 

Mr. .\lillaiil C. 1 lamer Minneapolis, Minn. 

Mr. C. II. llaney Chicago, HI. 

Mr. R. C. Ilaskins Chicago. III. 

Mrs. Iv. F,. I laywood Sharon. Pa. 

!Mr. I'rancis lleck Shamokin, Pa. 



296 Sight-Sccing in SotitJi America 

Mr. John G. Henry Rockford, 111. 

Mr. O. W. Hernon New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Charles Hewitt Des Moines, Iowa 

Mr. Thomas Hext Denver, Colo. 

Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Hochwalt Dayton, Ohio 

Mr. E. A. Hochwalt, Jr Dayton, Ohio 

Miss Dorothy Hochwalt Dayton, Ohio 

Miss Blanche Hoops Washington, D. C. 

Hon. C. S. Hyman London, Ontario, Can. 

Mr. C. de Ibarra Buenos Aires 

Mr. lyuis de Ibarra Buenos Aires 

Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Jenks Chicago, 111. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jermyn iVew York City, N. Y. 

Mr. and Mr<r. H. D. Johneon Norfolk, Va. 

Miss Mary Grace Johnson .Norfolk, Va. 

Mr. Fred B. Jones Delavan, Wis. 

Mr. W. B. Jordan Minneapolis, Minn. 

Miss Kitt M. Jordan Ottumwa, Iowa. 

Frau Bergrat Anna Klein-Scholtz Zoptau Austria. 

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Kleine Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Mr. W. K. Knox New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Paul Koskowski Hamburg, Germany 

Mr. Charles J. Krag Columbus, Ohio 

Mr. and Mrs. Albion E- Lang New York City, N. Y. 

F. Emilio Eamarca Buenos Aires. 

Mr. James A. L,aiising Scranton, Pa. 

Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Lawrence Washington, D. C. 

Master Marcus J. Lawrence Washington, D. C 

Mr. and Mrs. M. Lyman Lawrence Cleveland, Ohio 

Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Layton Englewood, Ohio 

Mr. Charles Lemp St. Louis, Mo. 

Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Lesh Newton Center, Mass. 

Dr. and Mrs. Morris Loeb New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Thomas Lynch New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie Kincardine, Ont., Can. 

Mr. William McAdams Pottsville, Pa. 

Mr. Joseph Magner San Francisco, Cal. 

Mr. Jose Marengo Buenos Aires. 

Mr. Charles I. Marshall West Chester, Pa. 

Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Martinez New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. Richard Mather New York City, N. Y. 

Miss Ruby May Goodwater, Ohio 

Mr. and Mrs. James Mingay Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 

Mr. U. R. Mildeberger Piatt Clove, N. Y. 

Mr. I. C. Moore Sharon, Pa. 

Miss Mary Morison Peterboro, N. H. 

Mr. and Mrs. Francis Naylor Philadelphia, Pa. 



Appendix 297 



:\Irs. Paul Xaef WoodclilTe, X. J. 

Mr. W'illiam A. Nelson \nsonia, Conn. 

!Mr. G. Nordstrom Rockford. 111. 

Mrs. Mary E. Osgood Providence, R. I. 

Mr. ^laurice A. Oudin New York City. .\. ^'. 

j\lr. Edgar J. Parker West Chester. Pa. 

Dr. Abel Pards New York City, X. Y. 

Miss A. E. Pattison Cincinnati, Ol:io 

Captain Frank W. Paul Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. J. Gilman Paul Baltimore, Md. 

Mr. Lawrence T. Paul Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. A. E. Petersen Xew York City. X. Y. 

Mr. J. Dudley Petersen Lockport, X'. Y. 

Mr. George B. Pettengill Cleveland, Ohio 

Mrs. R. E. Phinney Monroe, Mich. 

Mifs Arietta May Porter New Haven, Conn. 

Mrs. jNI. C. Porter San Francisco, Cal. 

Mr. William F. Porter Xew Haven, Conn. 

Mr. L. V. F. Randolph Plainfield, N. J. 

Mr. William B. Reed Westfield, Mass. 

Mr. W. W. Reilley Buffalo, N. Y. 

Miss Elizabeth Remsen New York City, X. Y. 

Mr. R. Riesland Hamburg, Germany 

Mr. Josef Ritschol tiamburg, Germany 

Mr. Milford X. Ritter Reading, Pa. 

Miss j\Iiriam Rocher Buenos Aires 

Mr. John Roeder, Jr Xew York City, X. Y. 

Mr. John Roger Xew York City, .\. Y. 

Mrs. James Rogers Chicago, III. 

-Mr. John D. Ross Denver, Colo. 

Mr. James E. Sayers \\'aynesburg. I'a. 

Miss Jane Sayers. Waynesburg, Pa. 

Mr. Thos. Sandri 1 taly 

Mr. ^^■. G. Sanford Morris, 111. 

.Mr. William J. Sangster Buffalo. X. Y. 

Mr. Max Schmidt Glencoe, 111. 

Mr. and Mrs. William Scott Pittsburg, Pa. 

Miss Eleanor Scott I'hiladelphia, Pa. 

Miss Alice Schaumann Bergcdorf. Germany 

Mr. William E. Selleck Chicago, 111. 

Mr. and Mrs. C. II. Sessions L,os Angeles. Cal. 

Mrs. Carlos D. Sheldon Houghton, Mich. 

Mrs. Mary E. Sheldon Chicago, III. 

Mr. R. Skiff Sheldon Ilou.ghton. Mich. 

^Ir. C. J. Shoemaker Wilkes P>arre. Pa. 

Mr. Walter Sluite Dorchester, Mass. 

Mr. and .Mrs. I'rank II. SimpMin Cincinnati, (;)hio 



298 Sight-Sceing in South America 

^Irs. I^mery Smart Portland, Maine 

Major Henry E- Smith Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. Charles G. Smith St. Paul, Minn. 

Miss May Smith .St. Paul, Minn. 

Mr. E. Smith Los Angeles, Cal. 

Dr. and Mrs. H. B. Sobernheimer Colorado Springs, Col. 

Mr. John J. Stoddart Columbus, Ohio 

Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Phelps Stokes New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward D. Stokes. Mount Holly, N. J. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Sturges Scranton, Pa. 

Mr. G. F. Sulzberger Chicago, 111. 

Mr. and Mrs. Calvin G. Sutliff .Lockport, N. Y. 

Miss Katharine Sutliff Lockport, N. Y. 

Mr. William G. Taylor Cleveland, Ohio 

Mr. Ralph Thompson Brookline, Mass. 

Miss Elizabeth Troesch Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. A. Velarco Buenos Aires 

Brig. Gen. Peter D. Vroom New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. W. L. Wallis Sharon, Pa. 

Mr. C. C. Walts Buenos Aires 

Mr. Fred H. Ward Portsmouth, N. H. 

Mr. George S. Ward .' Pittsburg, Pa. 

Mr. Herbert D. Ward Newton, Mass. 

Miss Harriet Warren Plymouth, Mass. 

Mr. B. F. Weaver. . Portland, Ore. 

Col. John B. Weber Buffalo, N. Y. 

Mr. F. S. Webster Turners Falls, Mass. 

Mr. Carl Wessel St. Paul, Minn. 

Mr. William F. Whittemore Boston, Mass. 

Mr. J. G. Wills Vandalia, 111. 

Miss Helen Wise New York City, N. Y. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Nelson Wisner Montevideo 

Master John Nelson Wisner Montevideo 

Mr. L- M. Younker Des Moines, Iowa 

Mr. Louis A. Ziegler Newark, N. J. . 



iltinprary. 



From NEW YORK to 

PORT OF SP.A.IN fTrinidad) . 

PERXAMBUCO (Brazil) 

SAXTOS ( Brazil) 

BUEXOS AIRES (Argentine) . 

USHUWAIA (.Arfjentine) 

PUXTA ARENAS (Chile) 

V.A.LPARAISO (Chile) 

PUXT.V ARENAS (Chile). . . . 

USHl'W.MA (.Argentine) 

MOXTE\'IDEO (Uruguay) . . . 
RIO DE JAXEIRO (Brazil) . . 

BAHIA (Brazil) 

PARA (Brazil) 

BRIDGETOWN (Barbados). . 

COLOX (Panama Canal) 

NEW YORK 



Miles. 


Arrival 


Stay About 


About 


Hours. 


1940 


Jan. 26 


36 


2030 


Feb. 2 


6 


12.55 


6 


48 


970 


" 10 


96 


1470 


" 18 


14 


285 


" 20 


20 


1400 


•• 24 


48 


1400 


Mar. 1 


li 


285 


9 


12 


1400 


7 


34 


1056 


12 


132 


738 


20 


16 


1525 


25 


25 


1160 


30 


10 


1230 


Apr. 3 


12 


1960 


9 





Total distance, 20,144 Miles. Duration of cruise, 80 days. 



OCT 21 1912 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

IllllllllllPllillliill 

015 807 467 9 



